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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Paul Sokoloski

Posted: December 22
Updated: Today at 3:52 AM

When the Philadelphia Eagles play the way they did Sunday, they really do look like the NFL’s version of a “Dream Team.”

Their problem is, most of the time the Eagles come across as team turmoil.

Jets coach Rex Ryan couldn’t figure out why and neither could his brother Rob, the defensive coordinator of the Dallas Cowboys, who gets another shot to save face for the family against the Eagles on Saturday evening.

By then, it may already be too late for Philadelphia.

If the New York Giants beat Rex Ryan’s Jets earlier Saturday, then the Eagles are eliminated from playoff contention.

No matter how much of a case they try to make for themselves against the Cowboys, part of the Eagles destiny will remain in someone else’s hands.

So nothing will be handed to a team crowned paper champions after Philadelphia’s free agent signing spree in training camp.

That whole “Dream Team” thing started on the basketball court, where a group of NBA stars won an Olympic gold medal to earn that moniker, and then rebounded in Miami when LeBron James and Chris Bosh showed up to join Dwayne Wade with the Heat last season.

The tag seemed to fit the Eagles perfectly in the summer.

And they appeared to be in perfect harmony while clobbering the Jets, 45-19 this past Sunday.

It was a record-setting day for LeSean McCoy, who scored his franchise-best 17th rushing touchdown of the season by crossing the goal line three times.

It was a career day for tight end Brent Celek, who wound up with 156 yards receiving, including a 73-yard bomb and a 26-yard touchdown he tipped one-handed to himself.

It was a dominating day for defensive end Jason Babin, who swooped in for three sacks to help resurrect a beleaguered defense.

And it was perplexing.

Because if the Eagles can look so good one week, you have to wonder how their world seems to fall apart the next.

“If you get guys doing the right thing, in the right place, good things happen,” Babin said.

For too much of this season, the 6-8 Eagles have seemed out of place talking about being among the elite teams in the league. Then, every once in awhile, they put on a show that makes heads turn.

“It shows you the type of fight we have,” McCoy said.

The Eagles had a game like this last one back on Oct. 30, a 34-7 victory over the Cowboys and their loud defensive coordinator Rob Ryan – who bragged his Dallas defense was going to stuff the Eagles. Instead, he got his mouth stuffed that day.

Everyone thought the Eagles were ready to roar off on a big run after that one, only Philadelphia ran backwards by losing four of its next five games.

Taking one step forward and long leaps back put the Eagles in this precarious position, needing some help along with victories in their final two games to have a shot at winning the NFC East with an 8-8 record.

“We are not where we wanted to be at the beginning of the season,” Celek said. “But we are doing all we can do with what we have.

“We just have to play together as a team and go out there, fight, and beat Dallas.”

It’s the only way to finish a season that stopped seeming like a dream with a slap of cold, hard reality.

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Over the past two weeks, the Philadelphia Eagles defense has looked phenomenal. In wins over the Miami Dolphins and New York Jets, the Eagles defense has done everything it can to help the team win. They have gotten sacks and turnovers while keeping the opponents from scoring. As a result, the team is 6-8 and still alive for the playoffs. With the two game winning streak, the Eagles are now making a case to keep Andy Reid on board for another season. As an Eagles fan, I suspected Reid would be back any way. However, is it possible that the defensive surge can save Juan Castillo’s job?

Castillo was hired as the defensive coordinator in the offseason. It was one of the most controversial moves of the Andy Reid era. Castillo was the offensive line coach and had no business coaching the defense. That is especially true in a year in which the lockout eliminated most of the offseason. It was clear that he was out of his league for much of the season. The Eagles defense displayed a similar pattern of failure throughout the year. They couldn’t tackle and they couldn’t stop the opposition late in the game. The Wide Nine defense was a disaster almost from the beginning. Many fans, myself included, believed the team should have made the change away from Castillo earlier in the season.

In my opinion, this recent stretch isn’t enough to save Castillo’s job. I understand he is a hard worker and is putting the time into learn the defense. I also understand that the players respect him. The Eagles have some flaws that are outside of Castillo’s control. Namely, the play of the linebackers has been terrible while the secondary has struggled. I can’t blame Castillo for those things. That said it is fair to assume that the Eagles would have been better had they had an experienced coordinator.

Being an NFL defensive coordinator is not a job you learn on the fly. I have respect for Castillo but this was never the position for him. A two game stretch of strong play late in the season shouldn’t be enough to save his job. However, I can see Reid bringing him back in 2012 if Reid keeps his job. To fire Castillo after one year would mean that Reid has to admit he was wrong. I don’t really see that happening.

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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.

The Philadelphia Eagles will look for their second win in a row when they face the New York Jets on Sunday, December 18. The Eagles have never lost to the Jets in the eight times they met. However, circumstances are a little different this time around. New York is 8-5 and surging toward the playoffs. Meanwhile, the Eagles are 5-8 and looking to avoid their fifth loss in seven games. It seems like this is the kind of game the Eagles should lose. But as an Eagles fan, I have a feeling the team will win this game.

I’m not thinking about the playoffs. I know the Eagles are mathematically alive but there is a lot that needs to happen for this team to get there. For me, it is about finishing the season on a strong note. I realize that won’t erase the disappointment that has already happened. But after three more weeks it will be a while before I see the Eagles on the field again. I would like those games to be meaningful. This game would represent a huge win for Philadelphia. The Eagles are just 1-5 at home and it would be nice to treat the fans to a good effort.

There are many out there that wouldn’t mind seeing the Eagles tank the rest of the season so that Andy Reid is more likely to be fired. I’m not among those fans. For one thing, there is no guarantee that Reid will be fired even if the Eagles lose the rest of their games. I think that if the Eagles were going to fire Reid, they will do it no matter how the Eagles finish. For that reason, fans should keep on cheering for this team.

This should be a pretty interesting game. The Jets have a strong defense and usually play their best football this time of year. Meanwhile, the Eagles had their best defensive effort of the season in Week 14. They want to prove that that was no fluke. The Eagles should be able to get to Mark Sanchez enough to limit the New York attack. However, the real key to the game will be how the Philadelphia offense attacks. The Jets are vulnerable in certain areas and this feels like the kind of game where Reid’s game plan works.

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The Philadelphia Eagles don’t have much to brag about this season except for LeSean McCoy. In fact, the one thing left for Eagles fans like myself to root for is for McCoy to win the rushing title – even though Philadelphia sometimes forgets that he can run the ball. His closest competition is Maurice Jones-Drew of the Jacksonville Jaguars – who is used to wasting away big seasons by now.

Both of the leading rushers in the NFL are on teams that are nowhere near close in the playoff chase. For Jones-Drew, that was further made clear on Dec. 15 as the Jaguars were slaughtered by the likely playoff-bound Atlanta Falcons by 41-14. While Jones-Drew rushed for 117 yards to increase his season total to 1334 – which is 162 yards ahead of McCoy – it was to no avail like everything else he’s done in 2011.

This is a common occurrence for Jones-Drew thanks to being on a horrid Jaguars franchise. Despite rushing for over 1000 yards three straight years, none of those campaigns ended with a playoff spot. The only time he got into the postseason was in 2007-08 in his second season, before he broke out as one of the NFL’s elite running backs.

McCoy’s second year ended with a playoff berth as well, but the Eagles have fallen apart in year three. Given the uncertain future of Andy Reid, Michael Vick and DeSean Jackson in Philadelphia, we can’t say for sure how soon the Birds will rally back – if they do. If they don’t figure something out, McCoy could be one of the few bankable stars left carrying a struggling franchise, just like Jones-Drew is doing in Jacksonville.

Given that the Jaguars hardly have the resources or the fan base that the Eagles do, McCoy should presumably be in better shape. However, the time is nearing for him to sign a big new contract, and he needs to consider if the Eagles are in a right enough direction to justify sticking around. Otherwise he’ll be stuck with a declining team that often forgets to let him carry the ball, and he’ll have to waste away his prime in losing seasons.

Jones-Drew is the obvious cautionary tale for McCoy, as his yards and big plays are all for nothing for a 4-10 club. Yet he is all that the Jaguars have to go on, so he is stuck as their foundation. McCoy should be the foundation of the Eagles, if only Reid would take some of the reigns and work load away from Vick.

But if McCoy ever gets that responsibility, the hope is that whatever rushing titles and highlight reel plays he has won’t be wasted in any more five-win years. As Jones-Drew proves, such a unfortunate scenario can become a nasty habit.

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

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The New York Giants vs Dallas Cowboys showdown on Dec. 11 could have well settled the NFC East race. It would have given the Cowboys an almost insurmountable lead in the division with a win and pretty much officially killed off my Philadelphia Eagles. However, the door was instead left ajar for the Giants – and the Eagles to a much lesser extent – in the latest example of NFC East inconsistency.

It is remarkable how brilliant and pathetic both the Giants and Cowboys can be at a given time. Dallas is powerful enough that it could be a legitimate threat to the Green Bay Packers if it didn’t blow so many leads. On the flipside, New York has also shown signs of its power in how it rallies back from leads and how it forged a 6-2 start before losing four straight games.

And now that same Giants team which had a four-game losing streak is in control of its own destiny in the NFC East after an improbable 37-34 rally. A 34-22 deficit with several minutes left soon became a three point Giants lead thanks to Eli Manning’s latest fourth-quarter revival. Then when the Cowboys looked ready to tie the score anyway and go to overtime, kicker Dan Bailey was frozen by the opposing coach this time and then had his do-over kick blocked.

Both Dallas and New York should be 9-4 or even better if not for their maddening flaws and inconsistency. That could also be said about Philadelphia if the Eagles didn’t blow so many leads themselves. But thanks to the Cowboys, Giants and Eagles being so flawed, the NFC East has officially become a division where a 9-7 record will probably wind up winning it all – and it’s fair to wonder if an 8-8 mark could do it too. What’s more, a New York team that went from 6-2 to 6-6 and had Tom Coughlin put on the hot seat may wind up seizing the division after all.

That is the crazy chaos that the NFC East has sunk into this season, which makes games like the one in Dallas make a bit more sense. Of course, given that this has become the year of Tim Tebow and the impossible comebacks, fourth quarter heroics and choke jobs like the ones that are now so common in the East aren’t out of place in the NFL.

Considering that the Giants are pretty much the only clutch fourth-quarter team in the division, it makes it all the more puzzling that they are only 7-6. But even they can’t finish every rally, and their inability to do so against the Eagles, Packers and San Francisco 49ers helped put them against the wall. If not for those disappointments, New York could be much further ahead by now – but that is nothing compared to how Dallas should have clinched the division by this point.

The NFC East would have finally been all but finished if the Cowboys could have protected a lead this time. But considering how things have gone for the first 14 weeks of the season, it probably wouldn’t make any sense for things to be settled now. Despite how New York is now riding high and Dallas is teetering on the edge, they are likely due to reverse roles, save themselves and then shoot themselves all over again a few more times before this is finally settled.

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

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By Ryan Michaels

– Dolphins Editor

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Dec 9, 2011 – Awestruck.

That is how I felt watching the Miami Dolphins dismantle the Oakland Raiders in Week 13. The final score may have been 34-14, but the game wasn’t nearly as close as the scoreboard indicated. If the Dolphins didn’t take their foot off the pedal on defense, they could have shut them out. It didn’t happen, but it was arguably their best game of the season.

Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Eagles continued their losing ways last week, this time falling to the Seattle Seahawks 31-14. It marked the Eagles’ fourth loss in their last five games. They won the offseason, and have one of the most talented teams in the NFL on paper, but haven’t been able to translate it onto on-field success. If they want to reverse their fortunes, they’ll have to do it against one of the hottest teams in the league. Can they do it? Read on.

Dolphins Pass Offense vs. Eagles Pass Defense

QB Matt Moore continued his solid play as of late against the Raiders. Although Moore didn’t end up with huge numbers (162 yards passing and one touchdown), he continued to show confidence in the pocket and showed off his mobility by rushing for a touchdown. WR Brandon Marshall put up average numbers last week as well (four receptions for 60 yards), but he made a couple of great catches. He also has three 100-yard receiving games since Moore took over as the starting quarterback and has shown some signs of getting over the drop issues that plagued him in the beginning of the season. The Eagles pass defense ranks a solid, if unspectacular, 13^th in the league, giving up 229.2 passing yards per game. The Eagles have also sacked opposing quarterbacks 33 times, tied for 5^th-best in the league. Moore has been good, and may not make a killer mistake this game, but the Eagles should be able to limit his effectiveness.

Advantage: Eagles

Dolphins Run Offense vs. Eagles Run Defense

RB Reggie Bush played like an every down back last week, rushing for 100 yards on 22 carries. RB Daniel Thomas seems to have kicked the injury bug and rushed for 73 yards on 13 carries last week. This can be a killer 1-2 punch if used properly, and Philadelphia is exactly the kind of team that can be taken advantage of on the ground. Seattle Seahawks RB Marshawn Lynch tore through the Eagles run defense last week, rushing for 148 yards and two touchdowns on only 22 carries. With all due respect to Lynch, he isn’t an elite running back. Expect big things Sunday out of Bush and Thomas.

Advantage: Dolphins

Eagles Pass Offense vs. Dolphins Pass Defense

QB Michael Vick is expected to return to the lineup on Sunday, although that doesn’t sound as frightening now as it did this time last year. The Eagles’ pass offense does rank 10^th in the league this year, gaining 255.5 yards per game through the air. However, WR DeSean Jackson has been inconsistent and his 16.2 yards per catch is down from last year’s 22.5. WR Jeremy Maclin has missed the past three weeks with shoulder and hamstring injuries, but is expected to return. Meanwhile, the Dolphins pass defense has played like a unit possessed. CB Vontae Davis is finally backing up his talk of the Dolphins cornerback tandem being the best in the NFL, intercepting two passes the past four games and playing physical football. The pass defense as a whole has not allowed an opposing quarterback to get a QB Rating above 78.8 since Eli Manning in Week 8. Vick will not reverse that trend.

Advantage: Dolphins

Eagles Run Offense vs. Dolphins Run Defense

This will be the deciding matchup of the game. The Dolphins defense will have two main objectives: First, to keep Vick in the pocket, and second, contain RB LeSean McCoy. McCoy has been one of the best running backs in the league this year, already rushing for 1,134 yards and averaging 5.3 yards per carry. He is a threat to run both between the tackles and cut to the outside. All eyes should be on LB Karlos Dansby and LB Koa Misi to stop McCoy while the Dolphins rotate their talented defensive line to keep them fresh throughout the game. If the defensive line prevents Philadelphia’s offensive line from opening up too many holes, the Dolphins should be able to stop McCoy the way they have stopped Raiders RB Michael Bush and Bills RB Fred Jackson recently. McCoy will be the Dolphins’ biggest challenge yet on defense, but this unit is up to it.

Advantage: Dolphins

Intangibles

The Dolphins are 3-3 at home and have won four of their last five games overall. Moore and head coach Tony Sparano have been playing and coaching like they really want to be in Miami next year and see through this rebuilding project. More was expected out of the Eagles this season coming off last year’s success and adding CB Nnamdi Asomugha, CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, and DE Jason Babin this offseason. It hasn’t worked and head coach Andy Reid may find himself out of a job at season’s end.

Advantage: Dolphins

Summary

The Dolphins play has been incredibly impressive over the past five weeks. They are finally playing up to their talent level, and if they had played like that in the beginning of the season, they could be in the playoff hunt. Alas, they’ll have to wait until next year to see the postseason, but that won’t stop them from continuing the Eagles’ nightmare of a season that was supposed to end in Indianapolis.

Prediction: Dolphins 27, Eagles 20

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The Philadelphia Eagles can do no better than 8-8 this season and try to avoid Andy Reid’s third losing year. Eagles fans like myself might not want to see that, since it would give Jeffrey Lurie an added pretext to keep Reid around in 2012. But there is a precedent for Philadelphia to salvage a .500 record out of nowhere and put a band aid on a lost season.

The 2011 Eagles are certainly the worst team in Philadelphia since the 2007 edition that started 5-8. Yet that 2007 club made themselves look a little better with three straight victories, including an upset over the then 12-1 Dallas Cowboys. After that, they beat the .500 New Orleans Saints and Buffalo Bills to reach 8-8 and look better than they really were.

To salvage an 8-8 mark this time, Philadelphia needs to pull another upset of the Cowboys in Dallas while beating the 7-5 New York Jets and 4-8 Washington Redskins and Miami Dolphins. Right now it is doubtful that they can even beat the Dolphins, since they are a hotter 4-8 team than the Eagles are. Knocking off the Redskins looks more doable, and they could catch the Cowboys and Jets if they have one of their inexplicable off weeks.

But if this club could barely show up to beat the 4-7 Seattle Seahawks on Dec. 1, taking four wins in a row seems like an even taller order. What’s more, fans would only have more reason to ask why they couldn’t do this earlier in the year when it really mattered. Given how the first 13 weeks have gone and how every high expectation has been destroyed, the Eagles are in a no-win scenario no matter how things go.

The 2007 Birds didn’t have those kind of problems, as their downfall was easier to predict. While they made it to the divisional playoffs in 2006 without Donovan McNabb, it was clear by then that their would-be dynasty was on fragile ground. At this point, mediocre seasons or ones where they were only good enough to make the playoffs were about to be more common than they were in the good old days.

That probably should have made the disappointment of 2011 easier to predict, yet big new free agents and the rush from Michael Vick’s 2010 comeback hid it all too well. Back in 2007, however, the Eagles had the likes of McNabb and Brian Westbrook to try and end an awful year with some dignity. In contrast, the leaders of this year’s Philadelphia squad have yet to really step up and stop the bleeding.

If they want to get Reid off the hot seat and give the Eagles the appearance of being a proud organization again, they will make another late run to .500 or at least make a great effort to do so. Technically, this season isn’t among the worst of the Reid era yet, at least until they lose two or three more times. It will still be among the worst regardless, but as 2007 showed, even a subpar Eagles team can have at least one good spurt left.

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 have had a season filled with missed opportunities. What’s more, the Eagles picked quite a year to have that happen, since Philadelphia could have dominated the NFC East if they held onto a few more leads. Birds fans like myself got another harsh lesson about what could have been on Dec. 4, after the top two teams in the NFC East went down.

There is no longer any point in scoreboard watching this season, given that the Eagles have no chance to catch the Dallas Cowboys or the New York Giants. But if there was still a point, then Dec. 4 would have been a great day in Philadelphia after Dallas and New York both lost heartbreaking late games.

With the Cowboys shooting themselves in their overtime loss to the Arizona Cardinals and the Giants getting burned late by the Green Bay Packers, these two “leaders” are now a respective 7-5 and 6-6. Yet even that is good enough to leave a 4-8 team like the Eagles in the dust these days.

However, all it would have taken is one or two more wins for Philadelphia to be right in the thick of this weak race. Even a win over the Seattle Seahawks on Dec. 1 would have given them a pulse thanks to what happened days later. It has been hard enough to live with all the fourth quarter leads in 2011, but it is even worse now since one or two preserved leads would have left the Eagles in prime position to control the division.

A 6-6 or 7-5 Eagles club might have still had all the problems, controversy, LeSean McCoy(notes) neglect and DeSean Jackson(notes) rebellions that this 4-8 team has now. But in this NFC East, where the Giants are in swoon and the Cowboys still can’t handle prosperity or the month of December, this Philadelphia team could have still taken control of the race. That by itself speaks to how far the NFC East has fallen this year.

If the Giants defeat the Cowboys in prime time on Dec. 11, the division will be led by two 7-6 squads – although it should be at least three. Yet the Eagles have been just as bad at taking advantage of the weakened NFC East as the Giants and Cowboys have been – albeit to a worse degree.

This kind of race is usually seen in the NFC West, where 9-7 records and worse have been just good enough. But in 2011, the San Francisco 49ers have clinched the West with a 10-2 record while the East champion may be lucky to get to 10 wins by this time next month.

It could be worse since the Eagles may be lucky to get to five or six wins in the next month. And it will get worse since it looks like nine wins might be enough to take the NFC East this season – and Philadelphia could have gotten that many long before New York and/or Dallas eventually will.

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

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The demise of the Philadelphia Eagles in 2011 has been well documented by fans and the media. Now that the Eagles saw their last remaining playoff hopes die with an ugly loss to the Seattle Seahawks, the time has come for everyone to think about the future of this team. As an Eagles fan, the fact that several players on this team seemed to have quit is a sign that we need massive change in 2012. The Eagles aren’t exactly the most proactive team in changing things. But I don’t think they have a choice now.

The problems start at the top. Andy Reid is hearing the calls for his head louder than he ever has before. The Andy Reid experiment is now 13 years old and has yielded no championships. There isn’t a lot of precedent for coaches staying in one place for that long before winning a championship. The list is Bill Cowher. That is it. That tells me that the Cowher scenario is a fluke, not a trend. Reid has done a lot of great things in Philadelphia but he continues to make the same mistakes. His stubbornness wore thin long ago. Now that he has lost control of the team, talk of him leaving will only get worse.

For me, this has to be the time to let Reid go. When you look at this team now, it is clear that the Eagles need to change something. That means either the coaches need to go or the players need to go. Eagles fans have already sat through plenty of different players. Reid has had lots of different lineups to make his system work. So far, it hasn’t. With the exception of the 2004 season, the Eagles have always felt like a team that seems to lack that championship edge. That falls on Reid. Winning teams are able to sustain great play throughout a season. With the Eagles, it has always been a great game followed by a frustrating loss.

The bottom line is that the Eagles can’t shake up the roster with new players and keep Reid. The team needs a major change in culture. On top of that, there is little reason to think Reid will bring in the right guys. He continues to both high draft picks. He continues to ignore certain positions. I have no problem with the team changing the roster. But if they are going to do that, it has to start with Reid. This has been the most disappointing regular season I can remember involving the Eagles. I know the Eagles are stubborn, but they can’t sell anyone on the idea of bringing this same group back next season.

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SEATTLE, Wash. — After years as the most devastating cover cornerback in the NFL — to the point where he wouldn’t see one-third the targets that Darrelle Revis(notes) would see in a single season — Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha(notes) is in a different situation than the one which allowed him to be a dominant presence during his eight years with the Oakland Raiders. After all those years as the least-targeted qualifying cornerback in the league (three of the last four seasons, per STATS LLC), Asomugha’s been more mortal this year, and the 4-7 Eagles have matched that disappointment. They face the Seattle Seahawks on a cross-country jaunt this Thursday, and winning out is the only thing that gives them any hope of a postseason.

For Asomugha, it’s been a bit like that first year you can pitch to an all-time hitting champ. In 2011, he’s been burned 13 times on 27 targets in 2011, but two of those burns have been for touchdowns, and he’s given up 8.74 yards per target, which is near the bottom of the scale in the NFL at his position. Part of the issue has been the possibility that Asomugha’s just not covering quite as well in straight man coverage as in years past, but the switch from Raiders to Eagles has put him in an odd box as well — after years of playing mostly right man cornerback, and only moving around when there was one elite receiver to cover, Asomugha’s been asked to play more slot corner, some safety, some pre-snap DB switch, and an occasional nickel linebacker role for new defensive coordinator Juan Castillo.

“There are a few different things,” he told the Seattle media on Tuesday. “In Oakland, it was ‘Play corner, and take that guy out of the game.’ Here, I’ve been moving around everywhere and just figuring out where I fit based off the calls and based off the particular positions that I’m playing on that down. Pretty much every game I’ve been at every position that you can think of in the secondary and even some down there in a linebacker spot, so it just depends. They’re just trying to utilize the things that I do well and trying to take certain guys out of games, whether it’s a tight end, a running back, or a receiver.”

But how much of a difficulty has that transition been? After all, it’s a bit different than “take that guy and shut him down all day,” which is what Asomugha’s more used to.

“It’s not difficult because we had so many games in Oakland where if we were playing against a top receiver they would just tell me to take him, so whether he was in the left side, or in the slot it didn’t matter, I would go with him,” Asomugha said. “I think the majority of the time if we weren’t playing against a guy like that or a big-time guy that we needed to stop, then we would just stay right and left. But it hasn’t been that big of a transition because I’ve done it before. I think the biggest transition is just the different coverages that we’re doing based off me moving around.  You can move around all you want and line up and take a guy out of the game, but things change when you’re moving around and the coverages are changing and now you’re fitting off of the next guy and it’s not just about stopping the guy in front of you. That’s been the transition.”

According to Greg Cosell of NFL Films and ESPN’s “NFL Matchup,” Asomugha always plays on the right side and will generally play man corner in base defenses. When the Eagles go to nickel, he’ll move from right corner to slot (he always plays right side because Asante Samuel(notes) only plays on the left side), and he will play slot when the Eagles go to their dime formations. Last week in the Eagles’ 38-20 loss to the New England Patriots, he was limited because of a knee injury, played just 20 snaps, and they were all in dime.

When I went back and did an X-and-O study of two early Eagles games in October, it was clear to me that the team was trying to set him up to be a Charles Woodson(notes) do-it-all type … and despite what some might say, it isn’t working very well. Now, he’s even getting beaten at times when he’s playing man press, which is especially disturbing.

“Nnamdi’s done some good things,” Eagles head coach Andy Reid said on Tuesday. “We’ve asked him to do a lot of different things than he’s used to doing.  We moved him around a quite a bit to the inside; asked him to cover tight ends, slot receivers, outside receivers.  We’ve got him moving all over.  He played a little safety for us in a couple games.  He’s done a good job with all that.”

But the disconnect between words and deeds is obvious in the game tape, in the stats, and in the Eagles’ overall record. For the team and for its most high-profile free-agent acquisition, things have been far worse than anybody imagined.

Related: Darrelle Revis, Asante Samuel, Nnamdi Asomugha, Charles Woodson, New England Patriots, Oakland Raiders, Philadelphia Eagles, Seattle Seahawks

SEATTLE, Wash. — After years as the most devastating cover cornerback in the NFL — to the point where he wouldn’t see one-third the targets that Darrelle Revis(notes) would see in a single season — Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha(notes) is in a different situation than the one which allowed him to be a dominant presence during his eight years with the Oakland Raiders. After all those years as the least-targeted qualifying cornerback in the league (three of the last four seasons, per STATS LLC), Asomugha’s been more mortal this year, and the 4-7 Eagles have matched that disappointment. They face the Seattle Seahawks on a cross-country jaunt this Thursday, and winning out is the only thing that gives them any hope of a postseason.

For Asomugha, it’s been a bit like that first year you can pitch to an all-time hitting champ. In 2011, he’s been burned 13 times on 27 targets in 2011, but two of those burns have been for touchdowns, and he’s given up 8.74 yards per target, which is near the bottom of the scale in the NFL at his position. Part of the issue has been the possibility that Asomugha’s just not covering quite as well in straight man coverage as in years past, but the switch from Raiders to Eagles has put him in an odd box as well — after years of playing mostly right man cornerback, and only moving around when there was one elite receiver to cover, Asomugha’s been asked to play more slot corner, some safety, some pre-snap DB switch, and an occasional nickel linebacker role for new defensive coordinator Juan Castillo.

“There are a few different things,” he told the Seattle media on Tuesday. “In Oakland, it was ‘Play corner, and take that guy out of the game.’ Here, I’ve been moving around everywhere and just figuring out where I fit based off the calls and based off the particular positions that I’m playing on that down. Pretty much every game I’ve been at every position that you can think of in the secondary and even some down there in a linebacker spot, so it just depends. They’re just trying to utilize the things that I do well and trying to take certain guys out of games, whether it’s a tight end, a running back, or a receiver.”

But how much of a difficulty has that transition been? After all, it’s a bit different than “take that guy and shut him down all day,” which is what Asomugha’s more used to.

“It’s not difficult because we had so many games in Oakland where if we were playing against a top receiver they would just tell me to take him, so whether he was in the left side, or in the slot it didn’t matter, I would go with him,” Asomugha said. “I think the majority of the time if we weren’t playing against a guy like that or a big-time guy that we needed to stop, then we would just stay right and left. But it hasn’t been that big of a transition because I’ve done it before. I think the biggest transition is just the different coverages that we’re doing based off me moving around.  You can move around all you want and line up and take a guy out of the game, but things change when you’re moving around and the coverages are changing and now you’re fitting off of the next guy and it’s not just about stopping the guy in front of you. That’s been the transition.”

According to Greg Cosell of NFL Films and ESPN’s “NFL Matchup,” Asomugha always plays on the right side and will generally play man corner in base defenses. When the Eagles go to nickel, he’ll move from right corner to slot (he always plays right side because Asante Samuel(notes) only plays on the left side), and he will play slot when the Eagles go to their dime formations. Last week in the Eagles’ 38-20 loss to the New England Patriots, he was limited because of a knee injury, played just 20 snaps, and they were all in dime.

When I went back and did an X-and-O study of two early Eagles games in October, it was clear to me that the team was trying to set him up to be a Charles Woodson(notes) do-it-all type … and despite what some might say, it isn’t working very well. Now, he’s even getting beaten at times when he’s playing man press, which is especially disturbing.

“Nnamdi’s done some good things,” Eagles head coach Andy Reid said on Tuesday. “We’ve asked him to do a lot of different things than he’s used to doing.  We moved him around a quite a bit to the inside; asked him to cover tight ends, slot receivers, outside receivers.  We’ve got him moving all over.  He played a little safety for us in a couple games.  He’s done a good job with all that.”

But the disconnect between words and deeds is obvious in the game tape, in the stats, and in the Eagles’ overall record. For the team and for its most high-profile free-agent acquisition, things have been far worse than anybody imagined.

Related: Darrelle Revis, Asante Samuel, Nnamdi Asomugha, Charles Woodson, New England Patriots, Oakland Raiders, Philadelphia Eagles, Seattle Seahawks

Late in the ugly loss for the Philadelphia Eagles against the New England Patriots, the crowd at Lincoln Financial Field started chanting for Andy Reid to be fired. This has been a topic of discussion among Eagles like me for years. But after a 2011 season that has been a complete disaster, the movement to fire Reid has never been stronger. I have to say that I agree with the majority of fans. Reid has done some great things in Philadelphia. However, I think the time to make a change is now.

I realize Reid is the winningest coach in the history of the franchise. I also realize that for the most part, the Eagles have been a contending team during most of his tenure. Reid has led the team to the NFC Championship Game five times during his run in Philadelphia. He has made them a regular playoff team. I give him credit for that. But the truth is that Reid has probably peaked. There is no reason to believe that this team can win a championship with Reid at the helm. As good of a coach as he is, I think both parties need a change. The Eagles can’t afford to go into another season with Reid running things.

The problem that people have with Reid is his stubbornness. Reid comes off as arrogant every time he talks to the media. Every press conference Reid offers is exactly the same. He always says that he needs to do a better job. But he never seems to take action with that. The Eagles have been making the same mistakes for a decade. They don’t know how to run the two minute offense. They don’t know how to adjust to things on the fly. They don’t run the football. The best player on the team is LeSean McCoy(notes). Yet for some reason, Reid still insists on throwing the football. In a two game winning streak earlier this season, McCoy carried the ball 58 times. It worked great. But for some reason, Reid chose to return to the pass. McCoy had just 10 carries in the loss to the Patriots. That is the kind of stuff that frustrates fans.

At the end of the day, we should know by now that Reid is who is. His philosophy will never change. He can look like a genius at times. However, he continually fails to address the problems that plague the Eagles. Every year, fans believe that this team will win the Super Bowl. But that has more to do with loyalty than with Reid. The reality is that the Eagles are essentially a 10-6 team every year that might win a playoff game. I don’t think it will get any better than that with Reid here next year. I know the team is loyal to their coach. But they can’t be afraid to make a change. Change is what this team badly needs right now.

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