The Eagles will start the 2012 season with an easy (on paper) opener at Cleveland, but will face teams coming off playoff seasons in six of their next seven games.

The same cannot be said of the Birds, who got off to a miserable 1-4 start a year ago and missed the postseason for only the third time in 12 seasons.

That early slate was considered by many to be the gentler portion of the 2011 schedule, while the home stretch was deemed a more difficult test. The Eagles, though, in a case of too little, too late, swept the final four games to finish 8-8.

As challenging as the NFL schedule-makers have seemed to set the Eagles’ first half – one that could decide coach Andy Reid’s future in Philadelphia – April is still a long way from September, and the league increasingly has turnover.

Still, Reid, in his 14th season, will have to avoid a number of land mines if his team is to return to the playoffs. The Eagles will face four teams coming off bye weeks, and both meetings with Dallas will follow Monday night games.

After visiting the Browns on Sept. 9 – just two weeks after the teams meet in the preseason – the Eagles will host Baltimore in their Lincoln Financial Field opener on Sept. 16.

It will be the first time Ravens coach and former Eagles assistant John Harbaugh faces his old team in Philadelphia, and the first time Audubon, N.J., native Joe Flacco returns to the area as an NFL quarterback.

The Eagles then fly west to visit Arizona on Sept. 23. Cardinals quarterback Kevin Kolb could have the opportunity to play against his former team, a chance he didn’t have a season ago after he suffered a concussion.

The highlight of the first month, however, will be a Sunday night showdown Sept. 30 at the Linc against the defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants. The Eagles won’t say it publicly, but many believed they were just as good as their Eli Manning-led NFC East rivals last season.

The game, on NBC10, will be the first of five in prime time. The Eagles, still quite the draw, are one of only eight teams with as many nighttime starts.

The schedule doesn’t get any easier with a trip to Pittsburgh on Oct. 7, though some have the Steelers as an AFC team in decline. Detroit, on the contrary, is considered an up-and-comer. The Birds will host the Lions on Oct. 14.

After a bye, the Eagles will square off with Atlanta for the fifth consecutive year. Both teams will be playing with an extra week’s rest, but Reid is 13-0 after the bye. The Birds will have an additional day off the following week when they head south for a Monday night tilt at New Orleans on Nov. 5. That’s typically a tough assignment. This time, it’s tough to say what kind of Saints team the Eagles will see. Coach Sean Payton has been suspended for the season because of the team’s bounty scandal, and quarterback Drew Brees may not be a happy camper if he has to play under the franchise tag.

The Eagles then jump back into their division when the Dallas Cowboys come to town on Nov. 11, and they will drive down I-95 to face Washington on Nov. 18. The latter game likely will be the Eagles’ first shot at rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III, whom the Redskins are widely expected to take with the No. 2 overall pick in next week’s draft.

Last season’s dynamo quarterback, Cam Newton, will be on display when the Eagles welcome the Carolina Panthers on Nov. 26 – a Monday night. The Birds will travel to Dallas on Dec. 2 and to Tampa on Dec. 9.

They will have a short week to prepare for Cincinnati on Dec. 13, a Thursday night. Last season, the Eagles flew to Seattle for a mid-week game and were slaughtered by the Seahawks, essentially ending any postseason hopes.

The Birds gladly will accept the 10-day break before the Redskins visit the Linc on Dec. 23. And the season will end with a potential blockbuster against the Giants on Dec. 30 at the Meadowlands.

Here’s the Eagles’ entire 2012 regular-season schedule:

Sunday, Sept. 9: at Cleveland, 1 p.m. (FOX)
Sunday, Sept. 16: vs. Baltimore, 1 p.m. (CBS)
Sunday, Sept. 23: at Arizona, 4:05 p.m. (FOX)
Sunday, Sept. 30: vs. N.Y. Giants, 8:30 p.m. (NBC)

Sunday, Oct. 7: at Pittsburgh, 1 p.m. (FOX)
Sunday, Oct. 14: vs. Detroit, 1 p.m. (FOX)
Sunday, Oct. 21: BYE
Sunday, Oct. 28: vs. Atlanta, 1 p.m. (FOX)

Monday, Nov. 5: at New Orleans, 8:30 p.m. (ESPN) 
Sunday, Nov. 11: vs. Dallas, 4:15 p.m. (FOX)
Sunday, Nov. 18: at Washington, 1 p.m. (FOX)
Monday, Nov. 26: vs. Carolina, 8:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Sunday, Dec. 2: at Dallas, 8:20 p.m. (NBC)
Sunday, Dec. 9: at Tampa, 1 p.m. (FOX)
Thursday, Dec. 13: vs. Cincinnati, 8:30 p.m. (NFL Network)
Sunday, Dec. 23: vs. Washington, 1 p.m. (FOX)
Sunday, Dec. 30: at N.Y. Giants, 1 p.m. (FOX) 

---

Contact Jeff McLane at 215-854-4745, jmclane@phillynews.com, or follow @Jeff_McLane on Twitter.

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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Rosters for the 2012 Pro Bowl to be played on Sunday, Jan. 29 in Honolulu.

AFC

Offense

Wide Receivers — s-Wes Welker, New England; s-Mike Wallace, Pittsburgh; A.J. Green, Cincinnati; Brandon Marshall, Miami.
Tackles — s-Joe Thomas, Cleveland; s-Jake Long, Miami; D’Brickashaw Ferguson, New York Jets.
Guards — s-Logan Mankins, New England; s-Brian Waters, New England; Marshal Yanda, Baltimore.
Centers — s-Maurkice Pouncey, Pittsburgh; Nick Mangold, New York Jets.
Tight Ends – s-Rob Gronkowski, New England; Antonio Gates, San Diego.
Quarterbacks — s-Tom Brady, New England; Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh; Philip Rivers, San Diego.
Running Backs — s-Ray Rice, Baltimore; Maurice Jones-Drew, Jacksonville; Arian Foster, Houston.
Fullback – s-Vonta Leach, Baltimore.

Defense

Ends — s-Dwight Freeney, Indianapolis; s-Andre Carter, New England; Elvis Dumervil, Denver.
Interior Linemen — s-Haloti Ngata, Baltimore; s-Vince Wilfork, New England; Richard Seymour, Oakland.
Outside Linebackers — s-Terrell Suggs, Baltimore; s-Von Miller, Denver; Tamba Hali, Kansas City.
Inside/Middle Linebackers – s-Ray Lewis, Baltimore; Derrick Johnson, Kansas City.
Cornerbacks — s-Darrelle Revis, New York Jets; s-Champ Bailey, Denver; Johnathan Joseph, Houston.
Free Safeties — s-Ed Reed, Baltimore; Eric Weddle, San Diego.
Strong Safety — s-Troy Polamalu, Pittsburgh.

Specialists

Punter — Shane Lechler, Oakland.
Placekicker — Sebastian Janikowski, Oakland.
Kick Returner — Antonio Brown, Pittsburgh.
Special Teamer — Matthew Slater, New England.
 

NFC

Offense

Wide Receiver – s-Calvin Johnson, Detroit; s-Larry Fitzgerald, Arizona; Steve Smith, Carolina; Greg Jennings, Green Bay.
Tackles — s-Jason Peters, Philadelphia; s-Joe Staley, San Francisco; Jermon Bushrod, New Orleans.
Guards — s-Jahri Evans, New Orleans; s-Carl Nicks, New Orleans; Davin Joseph, Tampa Bay.
Centers — s-Ryan Kalil, Carolina; Scott Wells, Green Bay.
Tight Ends — s-Jimmy Graham, New Orleans; Tony Gonzalez, Atlanta.
Quarterbacks — s-Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay; Drew Brees, New Orleans; Eli Manning, New York Giants.
Running Backs — s-LeSean McCoy, Philadelphia; Matt Forte, Chicago; Frank Gore, San Francisco.
Fullback — s-John Kuhn, Green Bay.

Defense

Ends — s-Jared Allen, Minnesota; s-Jason Babin, Philadelphia; Jason Pierre-Paul, New York Giants.
Interior Lineman — s-Justin Smith, San Francisco; s-Jay Ratliff, Dallas; B.J. Raji, Green Bay.
Outside Linebackers — s-DeMarcus Ware, Dallas; s-Clay Matthews, Green Bay; Lance Briggs, Chicago.
Inside/Middle Linebackers — s-Patrick Willis, San Francisco; Brian Urlacher, Chicago.
Cornerbacks — s-Charles Woodson, Green Bay; s-Carlos Rogers, San Francisco; Charles Tillman, Chicago.
Free Safeties — s-Earl Thomas, Seattle; Dashon Goldson, San Francisco.
Strong Safety — s-Adrian Wilson, Arizona.

Specialists

Punter — Andy Lee, San Francisco.
Placekicker – David Akers, San Francisco.
Kick Returner — Patrick Peterson, Arizona.
Special Teamer — Corey Graham, Chicago.

The Philadelphia Eagles are putting a lot of things together when it is way too late. While this only makes Eagles fans like myself more furious about how 2011 ended up, Philadelphia will still try to hope that the groundwork for a bigger 2012 has been laid out. Of course, since the Birds’ three-game winning streak means that Andy Reid will be back and Juan Castillo has a shot to return, it’s hard to say how good 2012 will turn out.

It would be a better sign if the DeSean Jackson of the last month returns for 2012 as well. The Eagles certainly can’t afford for the September-November Jackson to show up again. But ever since his bad behavior and the terrible Eagles peaked in the Dec. 1 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, they have both somehow been on their best behavior.

Jackson’s stats haven’t been mind blowing during the winning streak, as he has combined for 11 catches, 177 yards and one touchdown. However, the fact that he is catching the ball and getting more yards – and has stayed pretty quiet in the meantime – has been a relief after how the previous few weeks went. It still doesn’t erase the accusations of how he gave up before then – which loom even larger now when more effort and at least one more win would have made Week 17 very meaningful.

At this point, however, Jackson and Philadelphia fell so far during the first 13 weeks that anything other than another meltdown looks better. And now that the team is winning and there hasn’t been any new Jackson controversy lately, the hope is that both sides are cooling down before they get back to contract negotiations. Yet that leaves the question of whether too much damage has been done already.

Too much has been done to save the 2011 season, although it likely hasn’t been enough to fire Reid after all. However, if too much has been done to salvage negotiations with Jackson and to not just franchise tag him or trade him, 2012 will look more ominous. The Eagles already learned the consequences of keeping Jackson without paying him, and they cannot waste 2012 re-learning that lesson. Since 2012 stands to be Reid’s very last chance in Philadelphia, he certainly won’t want to waste that year figuring it out as well.

Going from 4-8 to a potential 8-8 record will be touted as a step forward, even though it really isn’t. If they want to make this last month of wins mean something, the Eagles will take this cooling off period to reassess Jackson and act accordingly. Whether that means resigning him or trading him is yet to be decided, but it has to be settled before training camp this time.

Philadelphia fans are skeptical that the good Eagles in December will show up for 2012, so maybe that should be the case with the good Jackson as well. However, if that good Jackson justifies a resigning at last – just as it somehow justifies keeping Reid around – then perhaps this big finish is worth something. If it’s too late, then at least his last month in town hasn’t been tarnished as much as his next-to-last month was.

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

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The Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys are on a collision course again in December. Eagles fans like myself remember that two late showdowns against the Cowboys in 2009 destroyed that season and ended the Donovan McNabb era. But other than that, Philadelphia has had its way with Dallas at this time of year lately.

Despite two straight defeats in Dallas to end 2009 and a Week 17 loss to the Cowboys at home in 2010, the Eagles have a history of breaking the Cowboys’ hearts in December. If they do it again by winning in Dallas on Dec. 24, it will officially send the Cowboys into another late season tailspin – even if it can’t help the Birds win the NFC East instead.

Philadelphia is trying to make its most improbable rally into the playoffs since 2008, which ended with a huge blowout of Dallas. The Eagles’44-6 blowout of the Cowboys to end the 2008 regular season got them into the playoffs and knocked Dallas out of the picture.

A year earlier, a victory over Dallas came too late for Philadelphia to make a postseason run. Yet when the 5-8 Eagles upset the 12-1 Cowboys in December 2007, it was the beginning of the end for Dallas’s Super Bowl dreams. It propelled Philadelphia to an 8-8 finish and laid the blueprint for the New York Giants to upset the Cowboys themselves in the divisional playoffs.

The Eagles didn’t even need Donovan McNabb to knock the Cowboys down in 2006. Jeff Garcia continued his shocking late winning streak in Week 16 that year, handling Dallas by 23-7 to get Philadelphia closer to an NFC East crown. Thanks to that loss, the Cowboys would have to go to Seattle and be eliminated on a fumbled hold by Tony Romo two weeks later.

Dallas loses to a bunch of teams in December year after year, so doing it so often against Philadelphia might not be special. And since the Cowboys have done much better against the Eagles in the last two Decembers, the Birds might be the ones haunted at the moment. In any case, the Philadelphia teams that broke Dallas’s hearts were led by Garcia, McNabb and Brian Westbrook, while the current crop of leaders like Michael Vick, DeSean Jackson and LeSean McCoy haven’t been so lucky.

Yet it is true that the Eagles historically perform well in December while the Cowboys historically collapse – which is usually reflected in their late season battles. If it happens once more in 2011, it will be a pretty ugly rerun for Dallas as its playoff hopes take another big hit. But if the Cowboys can destroy the Eagles’ playoff dreams this time around, it will be another sign that Andy Reid and the Birds aren’t what they used to be.

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

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The Philadelphia Eagles may still have hopes to win the NFC East, but they still need things to go absolutely perfect to win the division. Yet Eagles fans like myself can take solace in how the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants aren’t blowing everyone out of the water. In fact, if one looks at the last few weeks, the strongest teams in the NFC East lately have been the third-place Birds and last-place Washington Redskins.

Philadelphia only just got on track by winning two straight while Washington is still 5-9 after having a six-game losing streak earlier this year. But the Eagles and Redskins have shown more impressive stuff in recent weeks than the two teams closely fighting for first in the East.

The Giants, of course, have been decidedly unimpressive in losing five of their last six games. Meanwhile, the Cowboys at least showed some signs of being impressive by throttling the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Dec. 17 to retake first place. However, that didn’t excuse how Dallas blew its previous two games at the last second and has been extremely inconsistent every December.

As for Philadelphia, it has suddenly become the scariest team in the NFC East although it is still a long shot to get out of it. It would take wins over the Cowboys and Redskins, a Giants loss to the New York Jets on Dec. 24 and a Cowboys loss to the Giants on Jan. 1 to win the division on an 8-8 tiebreaker. Yet that doesn’t seem out of the question, due to both the Eagles’ improvement and mainly to the Cowboys and Giants’ inconsistency and occasional incompetence.

Washington has actually looked a lot better in losing its games lately than Dallas and New York has. The Redskins have come very close to beating the Cowboys, New York Jets and New England Patriots in recent weeks, have beaten the Seattle Seahawks before they got hot, and finally broke through by throttling the Giants on the road on Dec. 18. At 5-9, the Redskins have to kick themselves because they could have been right in this race with a few breaks, just like the Eagles could have been.

Philadelphia and Washington are finishing this season with more style than Dallas and New York are, if only by comparison. Of course, if the Eagles and Redskins showed this improvement in October and November, they would be the ones fighting for first place. Instead, the Cowboys and Giants are setting the low bar in the NFC East, even though they’ve been playing like the third and last place clubs in the division for a while now.

If or when either Dallas or New York takes the division by default, Washington and Philadelphia will have a whole offseason to wonder what could have been. The Eagles and Redskins have been the NFC East’s scariest teams in December – but being like that in October and November as well would have been much better.

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

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Whether or not the Philadelphia Eagles make the playoffs, at least they showed for one game precisely what the whole season was supposed to look like in Sunday’s 45-19 thrashing of the New York Jets in front of a delighted crowd at Lincoln Financial Field.

For a team that had been 1-5 at home and has found every way imaginable to blow leads, Sunday’s cathartic win proved to the Eagles they could be that good and had they been anywhere near that level for most of the season, a playoff berth would be already clinched, not still a dubious proposition.

“You think back on the season and you get frustrated because there was a lot of games that we should have won hands down that we didn’t win, whether it was because of turnovers or just lack of performance on offense in certain areas. ” quarterback Michael Vick said. “For the most part, we played good football all season when you think about the games that we’ve lost and the games that we’ve won and how they’re been decided. So it kind of gets frustrating.”

The Birds even overcame three turnovers — two special-teams disasters, a muffed punt by Curtis Marsh and a kickoff return fumble by Dion Lewis — that could have been game-changers and a rare LeSean McCoy fumble — and still hammered the Jets.

So the question: was Sunday the real Eagles or just a mirage against a Jets team that couldn’t have been much worse for large stretches of the game (one stat: New York had eight penalties before halftime) and saw several of its best players, notably wide receivers Plaxico Burress and Santonio Holmes, be either non-factors (Burruss) or actively negative to their own cause (Holmes)?

“The difference in the last two weeks has been getting off to fast starts,” defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins said. “You get out there and you don’t dig a huge hole for yourself early. Once we start getting on teams and we start carrying that momentum over, we’re just trying to finish the games. Not get up and then lose the momentum and then let them back in the game.”

The defense, led by Jason Babin’s sacks (he’s averaging over a sack a game over his last 30 games after posting three Sunday) and improved play from linebackers Casey Matthews and Brian Rolle and safeties Nate Allen and Kurt Coleman, has been on a roll the last two weeks.

But is that the real Eagles defense? The Jets were so awful it was hard to tell and the week before the crippled Miami Dolphins had to run journeyman quarterback J.P. Losman out there for much of the game; Dan Marino he was not.

Given that the Birds’ defense was shredded the two weeks before by New England and Seattle, doubters still exist — and they should. The offense has impressed as well, but, again, the Dolphins aren’t much of a test and the Jets can’t cover tight ends or rush the passer.
 
Getting Vick back has been enormous — Vince Young did not see the field well, lacked precision and was a turnover machine — and the emergence of Brent Celek as a big-play receiver has been a huge boost. So has an offensive line that seems at last to be playing together and cutting out the penalties that were setting them back.

“The (offensive line) did a good job,” Eagles head coach Andy Reid said Sunday. “The offensive line was stout in there. They did a nice job.”

So are these the real Eagles? Have the ups and downs evened out now to produce the team everyone thought would be there all along?

“That’s a hard thing to pinpoint because as a coach, you’re so optimistic.” Reid said Monday. “You’re teaching, and you’re pushing and you’re studying and doing all those things. You don’t look at the highs and the lows and that part. You go in and you get yourself ramped up for each game knowing there’s going to be success. That’s the frame of mind that you’re in.”

The Eagles face another situation Saturday where their playoff hopes could be ended by the time they hit the field in Dallas at 4:15 p.m. If the New York Giants beat the Jets at 1 p.m., the Eagles cannot win the NFC East.

“Anything’s possible in the NFL,” Reid said. “I realize that, I’ve been around long enough to understand that. I’m a huge Jets fan this week.”

Vick said all the Birds can do is live every moment like it’s a decisive one.

“You have to kind of tell yourself, just continue to live in the moment because there’s nothing you can do about the past,” he said. “The past is the past and the present is the present. The future is the present. So you just have to continue to keep the faith.”

The Eagles have faith they will have a future — a playoff future. They’d have already wrapped one up, though, had the team that walloped the Jets Sunday shown up earlier this season.

PHILADELPHIA – Andy Reid and the rest of the Philadelphia Eagles are hoping the team they just whipped helps them out in a big way.

The Eagles (6-8) are still in the playoff hunt in a mediocre NFC East following a 45-19 rout over the New York Jets on Sunday. Now they’ll need those same Jets (8-6) to beat the New York Giants (7-7) on Saturday to keep them in contention.

“I’m a big Jets fan this week,” Reid said Monday.

So is everyone else in Philly.

The Jets-Giants game should be over before the Eagles kick off against division-leading Dallas (8-6) on Christmas Eve. So, there will be plenty of scoreboard watching during pre-game warmups.

“You control what you control,” Reid said. “You have to play the game whether that team wins or loses.”

For the Eagles to repeat as NFC East champions, they must beat the Cowboys on the road and defeat Washington at home on Jan. 1. They need the Giants to lose to the Jets and then beat Dallas in their last game.

If all four scenarios work out Philadelphia’s way, the Eagles would win the division in a three-way tie at 8-8 because they would have the best record in the East at 5-1.

“It feels good that we are still alive,” tight end Brent Celek said. “That is all you can ask for at this point. We are not where we wanted to be at the beginning of the season, but we are doing all we can do with what we have. We just have to play together as a team and go up there, fight and beat Dallas.”

The Eagles weren’t supposed to be in a position where they had to scratch and claw and hope to make the playoffs. Many experts picked them to contend for the Super Bowl this season after an off-season spending spree brought several star players to Philadelphia, joining an already strong core that included Michael Vick, LeSean McCoy and DeSean Jackson. Even management declared this an all-or-nothing year.

But a 1-4 start doomed the Eagles and they’ve failed miserably to live up to those enormous expectations. Consecutive lopsided losses to New England and Seattle dropped the Eagles to 4-8 and seemingly ended their playoff chances. Fans were calling for Reid to be fired, and for offensive line coach-turned-defensive co-ordinator Juan Castillo to go with him.

Now it appears both Reid and Castillo have secured themselves another season. Players have rallied around Castillo, saying they have more confidence in his schemes and calls. The results support that. The defence has shown vast improvement recently, holding both Miami and the Jets to under 250 total yards and getting 13 sacks.

“You have to understand that we really didn’t have training camp,” Castillo said. “And I think initially I started too fast and what I found out is I had to go backwards with some of those guys because they had missed some of that and we were making some mistakes just on fundamental stuff. You know, now as we understand all of our packages, we’re able to add as we keep going. And there is still a lot to add, but the first thing we have to understand is how to handle our fundamental packages.”

“I’m a big Jets fan this week,” Reid said Monday.

So is everyone else in Philly.

The Jets-Giants game should be over before the Eagles kick off against division-leading Dallas (8-6) on Christmas Eve. So, there will be plenty of scoreboard watching during pregame warmups.

“You control what you control,” Reid said. “You have to play the game whether that team wins or loses.”

For the Eagles to repeat as NFC East champions, they must beat the Cowboys on the road and defeat Washington at home on Jan. 1. They need the Giants to lose to the Jets and then beat Dallas in their last game.

If all four scenarios work out Philadelphia’s way, the Eagles would win the division in a three-way tie at 8-8 because they would have the best record in the East at 5-1.

“It feels good that we are still alive,” tight end Brent Celek said. “That is all you can ask for at this point. We are not where we wanted to be at the beginning of the season, but we are doing all we can do with what we have. We just have to play together as a team and go up there, fight and beat Dallas.”

The Eagles weren’t supposed to be in a position where they had to scratch and claw and hope to make the playoffs. Many experts picked them to contend for the Super Bowl this season after an offseason spending spree brought several star players to Philadelphia, joining an already strong core that included Michael Vick, LeSean McCoy and DeSean Jackson. Even management declared this an all-or-nothing year.

But a 1-4 start doomed the Eagles and they’ve failed miserably to live up to those enormous expectations. Consecutive lopsided losses to New England and Seattle dropped the Eagles to 4-8 and seemingly ended their playoff chances. Fans were calling for Reid to be fired, and for offensive line coach-turned-defensive coordinator Juan Castillo to go with him.

Now it appears both Reid and Castillo have secured themselves another season. Players have rallied around Castillo, saying they have more confidence in his schemes and calls. The results support that. The defense has shown vast improvement recently, holding both Miami and the Jets to under 250 total yards and getting 13 sacks.

“You have to understand that we really didn’t have training camp,” Castillo said. “And I think initially I started too fast and what I found out is I had to go backwards with some of those guys because they had missed some of that and we were making some mistakes just on fundamental stuff. You know, now as we understand all of our packages, we’re able to add as we keep going. And there is still a lot to add, but the first thing we have to understand is how to handle our fundamental packages.”

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

PHILADELPHIA (AP)—Andy Reid and the rest of the Philadelphia Eagles are
hoping the team they just whipped helps them out in a big way.

The Eagles (6-8) are still in the playoff hunt in a mediocre NFC East
following a 45-19 rout over the New York Jets on Sunday. Now they’ll need those
same Jets (8-6) to beat the New York Giants (7-7) on Saturday to keep them in
contention.

“I’m a big Jets fan this week,” Reid said Monday.

So is everyone else in Philly.

The Jets-Giants game should be over before the Eagles kick off against
division-leading Dallas (8-6) on Christmas Eve. So, there will be plenty of
scoreboard watching during pregame warmups.

“You control what you control,” Reid said. “You have to play the game
whether that team wins or loses.”

For the Eagles to repeat as NFC East champions, they must beat the Cowboys
on the road and defeat Washington at home on Jan. 1. They need the Giants to
lose to the Jets and then beat Dallas in their last game.

If all four scenarios work out Philadelphia’s way, the Eagles would win the
division in a three-way tie at 8-8 because they would have the best record in
the East at 5-1.

“It feels good that we are still alive,” tight end Brent Celek said.
“That is all you can ask for at this point. We are not where we wanted to be at
the beginning of the season, but we are doing all we can do with what we have.
We just have to play together as a team and go up there, fight and beat
Dallas.”

The Eagles weren’t supposed to be in a position where they had to scratch
and claw and hope to make the playoffs. Many experts picked them to contend for
the Super Bowl this season after an offseason spending spree brought several
star players to Philadelphia, joining an already strong core that included
Michael Vick, LeSean McCoy and DeSean Jackson. Even management declared this an
all-or-nothing year.

But a 1-4 start doomed the Eagles and they’ve failed miserably to live up to
those enormous expectations. Consecutive lopsided losses to New England and
Seattle dropped the Eagles to 4-8 and seemingly ended their playoff chances.
Fans were calling for Reid to be fired, and for offensive line
coach-turned-defensive coordinator Juan Castillo to go with him.

Now it appears both Reid and Castillo have secured themselves another
season. Players have rallied around Castillo, saying they have more confidence
in his schemes and calls. The results support that. The defense has shown vast
improvement recently, holding both Miami and the Jets to under 250 total yards
and getting 13 sacks.

“You have to understand that we really didn’t have training camp,”
Castillo said. “And I think initially I started too fast and what I found out
is I had to go backwards with some of those guys because they had missed some of
that and we were making some mistakes just on fundamental stuff. You know, now
as we understand all of our packages, we’re able to add as we keep going. And
there is still a lot to add, but the first thing we have to understand is how to
handle our fundamental packages.”

When Andy Reid last walked off the field at the Linc, fans were chanting “Fire Andy!”

Reid may hear more of the same when the Philadelphia Eagles host the New York Jets on Sunday. It won’t help his cause that standing across the sideline will be the son of one of the most beloved sports figures in the city’s history.

Jets coach Rex Ryan might get a standing ovation simply because his father, Buddy Ryan, is revered in Philadelphia. For a few hours on game day, Rex Ryan will represent a constant reminder to those long-ago days when the feisty Eagles fans actually had a love affair with the coach of their team.

Now they can’t wait for him to go.

The Eagles are 5-8 in a season that began with Super Bowl aspirations. They’re clinging to slim playoff chances in a mediocre NFC East, but must win out and get lots of help.

The Jets (8-5) have won three straight and are in prime position to reach the playoffs as they seek their third consecutive trip to the AFC championship game.

Perhaps it’s fitting that Buddy’s son puts these Eagles out of their misery.

Buddy Ryan never won a playoff game in his five years coaching the Eagles from 1986-90, going 0-3. But he invigorated a generation of football fans by bringing the team back to prominence after several down years. His bombastic personality, blue-collar attitude and shoot-from-the hip style forever endeared him to the diehards.

“It was great the years my dad had in Philly,” Rex Ryan said. “The fans really did identify with him. He was himself and I think the fans really appreciated that. I think he wishes he would have had a couple more years to maybe get the Eagles over the top there, but really they put together one heck of a football team and I think the fans appreciated the way they played. They might not win every game but they were going to beat you up every game, that’s pretty much how the Eagles were.”

Reid’s success far exceeds Ryan’s accomplishments in Philadelphia. Reid has led the Eagles to nine playoff appearances, six NFC East titles, five conference championship games and one Super Bowl in his first 12 seasons.

Despite such an impressive resume, Reid has never been popular among fans. Many have been calling for his dismissal for years, saying the Eagles will never win their first Super Bowl with him calling the shots. Reid is the anti-Buddy. He’s stoic, boring and hardly reveals anything of consequence at his news conferences. His coaching philosophy — a pass-heavy offense — annoys old-schoolers who prefer a balanced attack. His refusal to call players out publicly angers those who want to see underachieving athletes made accountable.

“I think both of us are extremely handsome,” Rex Ryan said in typical fashion when asked to compare himself to Reid. “I think that’s the thing that really jumps out at you. They say it’s a big man’s game and there you have it. Two of the biggest coaches in the league going at it. But clearly, I respect the heck out of Andy. He’s a tremendous coach, probably a Hall of Fame-type coach. So I think what he’s done, his resume, is as impressive as anybody’s.”

Unlike fans and most reporters, Rex Ryan knows a different side to Reid.

“Anyone who has spent time off the field with Andy, he has a great sense of humor, doesn’t take himself too serious, has a great time,” Ryan said. “He’s smart. He’s really fun to be around.”

No kidding?

“Well, you guys can tell all those things are true from these press conferences,” Reid joked.

The two coaches share a mutual respect.

“I have a good relationship with him. He’s a good guy,” Reid said. “He has some ties to the Eagles and he’s always taken an interest in that, as his brother has, and his father.”

Earlier this season, the Eagles honored Buddy Ryan at a halftime ceremony during a Monday night game. The 80-year-old Ryan, who is battling cancer, got a loud ovation and fans chanted his name.

“He absolutely loved it,” Rex Ryan said of his father. “A classy thing to do by (Eagles Chairman and CEO) Jeffrey Lurie and I know one thing, he’ll never forget it. He certainly appreciated it and I appreciated it as well.”

A month ago, these two teams were almost in similar spots. The Jets were 5-5 after consecutive losses to New England and Denver. The Broncos rallied to beat New York on Tim Tebow’s 20-yard TD run in the final minute. New York’s offense was sputtering and the season seemed lost.

On the other hand, the Eagles had just improved to 4-6 by defeating the New York Giants on the road behind backup quarterback Vince Young. They were just two games behind and owned the best record in the division.

Since that loss to Denver, the Jets have outscored their opponents 99-53 during a three-game winning streak. Mark Sanchez has been outstanding, throwing for seven TDs and running for two more.

Meanwhile, the Eagles were blown out by New England and Seattle before beating Miami to stay mathematically alive in the playoff race.

“I’ve watched their talent,” Ryan said. “That doesn’t look like a 5-8 team. They’re fourth in the league in offense, 11th in defense, so the numbers don’t make sense right there. They’ve had some struggles, but I’m going to tell you this, they probably have as much talent as any team in this league.”

With one more loss, the Eagles could be the most talented team going home when the regular season ends.

The Philadelphia Eagles seem to have been working hard to getting coaches fired all year. Many Eagles fans like myself are hoping that it works as the calls for Andy Reid’s departure increase. However, Reid kept us from getting louder by getting an actual win over the Miami Dolphins on Dec. 11 – but even that got a coach fired, as it turned out.

The Eagles may or may not get their head coach fired, yet they warmed up by sealing the fate of Miami’s Tony Sparano first. It served as quite a ironic twist that Sparano was fired after the loss, since everyone credited the Dolphins for fighting much harder for their embattled coach than the Eagles did. Yet in one game, Reid proved his longevity once again.

Sparano had gotten new life by going on a 4-1 run after starting the season 0-7. It was still assumed that he would get fired at the end of the year, but the recent wins suggested he would have a fighting chance and get to finish out the season. Instead, just one poor performance against a much less hot 4-8 team in Philadelphia finished Sparano off at last.

The Eagles can’t take all the credit, given that the decision to terminate Sparano was probably made weeks ago. Miami just couldn’t get away with it sooner because the Dolphins were starting to win at the last minute. What’s more, he was making Reid look even worse as the Eagles kept regressing to 4-8 while the Dolphins kept improving to 4-8.

It is a bit nonsensical that one meaningless defeat to a team that is pretty much finished would be the final straw for the Dolphins. After those four victories, one would think that Sparano had earned the right to coach one more month. It isn’t like Philadelphia made Miami look worse than it had ever been in 2011, as their first seven defeats were much more heartbreaking.

Yet Sparano now has to wonder why the Eagles had to wake up and salvage their pride against him. If he had faced the same Philadelphia team that laid down against the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks, he would certainly still be walking a sideline right now. Unfortunately for him, the Birds have a coach of their own to save – and one whose fate wasn’t as certain all along.

Reid staying for 2012 might be just as inevitable as Sparano getting fired in 2011, however. If that happens, many Eagles fans will wonder why the team couldn’t get their own coach fired as easily as it pushed Sparano over the edge. Of course, if Philadelphia actually wins its last three games and salvages an 8-8 record – which is more than Miami can do right now – Reid’s case will get a lot better.

Now that it is possible for the Eagles to get one head coach removed, the next month will decide if they can get two of them canned – and that doesn’t refer to the New York Jets’ Rex Ryan, the Dallas Cowboys’ Jason Garrett or the Washington Redskins’ Mike Shanahan.

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

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By Brian Biggane

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Updated: 10:29 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 11, 2011

Posted: 8:24 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 11, 2011

MIAMI GARDENS — It’s a bit unusual for a defensive coordinator to show up in an NFL post-game locker room. But after the trying season Philadelphia’s Juan Castillo has had, he deserved a chance to talk about the success of his unit in the 26-10 victory Sunday over the Dolphins.

Castillo, affectionately known as “Coach Juan” to his players, put together a defensive game plan that resulted in nine sacks and three turnovers and limited Miami to 204 yards.

“The key was to stop the run,” Castillo said. “We knew if we could stop the run we’d be in good shape to put pressure on the quarterback.”

The Dolphins totaled 109 yards rushing, below their 115.6 season average.

The Eagles improved to 5-8 and kept their faint playoff hopes alive. If the Eagles, New York Giants and Dallas all finish 8-8, Philadelphia would win the NFC East title on tiebreakers.

“We’re still in the hunt,” said Trent Cole, who had three sacks, as did fellow defensive end Jason Babin. “We know what we’ve got to do. We’ve been in situations like this in past years and we’ve always stayed strong. That’s Eagles football.”

Philadelphia came into the game having lost four of five games and having given up 38 and 31 points in their last two games to New England and Seattle, respectively, resulting in widespread calls for coach Andy Reid to dismiss Castillo.

But Reid has remained loyal to a guy who has been on the Eagles’ coaching staff for 16 years, all as an offensive assistant prior to this year.

While the Dolphins could be seen bouncing up and down at their end of the field in their pre-game huddle, the Eagles seemed subdued.

“We talked in the beginning of the week about what we had to do, and what we said before the game was the talking was done,” said rookie linebacker Brian Rolle, an Immokalee native.

“Coach Juan made a great point this week about what it means to be a warrior, and that’s somebody who’s going to fight to the end and ultimately get the job done. We took that to heart.”

The Eagles, who came into the game tied for last in the league with a turnover ratio of -9, took over the game in the second period by intercepting a Matt Moore pass and recovering fumbles by Moore and Davone Bess.

When the Eagles offense converted the three mistakes into scores – a 1-yard run by LeSean McCoy, a 40-yard field goal by Alex Henery and a 34-yard pass from Michael Vick to DeSean Jackson – Philly was up 24-7 and in complete control.

Whatever doubt about the outcome remained was erased when the Eagles’ defensive front stopped the Dolphins four times when they needed one yard on third and fourth downs.

“They were close to being (perfect) on third and fourth and short this year,” Babin said. “I don’t know how many times we stopped them, but that’s almost unfathomable.”

The nine sacks give the Eagles a whopping 42 on the season, 15 of them by Babin.

“The D-line was hot today,” second-year linebacker Keenan Clayton said. “They were getting to the quarterback, and at the back end we were shutting down the coverage, so we gave them time to get there.”

Philadelphia didn’t get a lot done offensively. Vick, returning from a three-game absence because of broken ribs, was his typical elusive self, escaping sacks on several occasions aside from the three times he was caught, but passed for only 188 net yards. McCoy, who came into the game leading the NFC in rushing, totaled just 38 yards on 27 carries, a 1.4 average.

But with the way the defense was playing, Vick and Reid didn’t need to take any chances after halftime.

“I’m proud to have a day like this against a good football team,” Reid said. “(The Dolphins) were hot. They thumped some pretty good teams. I was proud of the way we performed.”

Thanks to the downfall of the Philadelphia Eagles, the NFC East has come down to the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants. If that wasn’t the case, Eagles fans like myself would have a very strict eye on the big Cowboys-Giants showdown on Dec. 11. But since it won’t impact Philadelphia in any way, all it can do is watch Dallas and New York decide the NFC East and wonder what could have been.

Either way, this prime time showdown should determine the fate of the division in some way. If the Cowboys prevail, they will pretty much have the NFC East wrapped up while the Giants descend into further disarray. But if the Giants win, it will further illuminate the fact that this is the weakest NFC East race in a long time – which makes it more upsetting that the Eagles couldn’t take advantage.

Despite a four-game losing streak and Tom Coughlin being on the hot seat, New York can still move back into first place with a win in Dallas. It is astonishing that a 6-6 team on a four-game slide can still do that – although perhaps less so in an era where a 7-9 Seattle Seahawks team can reach the divisional playoffs. But that happened in an NFC West that everyone dismisses as the worst division in football, whereas the East is supposed to have higher standards.

Everyone in the NFC East has had a downfall or collapse in some way, as the Washington Redskins fell apart after a 3-1 start, the Eagles have spent all season shooting themselves and the Giants’ 6-2 start looks very far away. As for the Cowboys, they could have run away with the division by now if not for several blown leads in the first half of the year. But with a victory over the Giants, they will likely run away after all.

Improving to 8-5 normally isn’t enough to provide a cushion in this division. Yet if Dallas improves to that record and is two games up over a 6-7 New York team that’s lost five in a row, it would pretty much be the whole ball game. The NFC East still wouldn’t look pretty, but it would be clear cut who the best team is – or at least the one that stayed standing the longest.

However, a Giants victory would leave both teams at 7-6 and likely make a mere 9-7 record good enough to win it all – at best. It will cement the NFC East and its contenders as the dregs of the conference for the first time in recent memory, even though it might then be the only division decided on the final weekend.

Yet the Cowboys and Giants hardly look like threats to knock off the likes of the Green Bay Packers, New Orleans Saints and San Francisco 49ers in January. Although the Giants came close against the Packers and 49ers, they need to actually make the playoffs to get another shot. That will likely be impossible if they don’t beat the Cowboys – and if they do, then Dallas will look like a less viable contender and more like a club collapsing right on cue.

The NFC East should be under the Eagles control by now, if they had just held onto a few more leads. Instead, they are a non-factor as the fate of the division is decided on Dec. 11 – either as one where the Cowboys ultimately took control, or one where the winner is the division’s worst champion in many a year.

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

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