A look back at Philly's Joke of a Schedule..Who have they beaten?

Journeyman · Jan 30, 2005

Breaking Down The Eagles Regular Season Cup Cake Schedule

<HR style="COLOR: #fdde82" SIZE=1>Jan. 2 - Bengals, L 10-38 * Did Not Try
Dec. 27 - at Rams, L 7-20 *Did Not Try
Dec. 19 - Cowboys, W 12-7 *Squeaker at home vs hapless Dallas
Dec. 12 - at Redskins, W 17-14 * Squeaker at Was
Dec. 5 - Packers, W 42-17 * Best game of the Year, as we look back we know GB was a very average team this season
Nov. 28 - at Giants, W 27-6 * Eli and the Giants in complete disarray
Nov. 21 - Redskins, W 28-6 * Redskins were at their worst at this particular point in the season, tight game at the half, Phi pulls away 2nd half.
Nov. 15 - at Cowboys, W 49-21 MNF blowout, again playing NOBODY!
Nov. 7 - at Steelers, L 3-27 Finally a difficult game and Pittsburgh destroyed them.
Oct. 31 - Ravens, W 15-10 Squeaked by an unjurry riddled Ravens, no Jamal Lewis
Oct. 24 - at Browns, W 34-31 Squeaked by a lousy Cle team who was playing decent at the time (for Cle)
Oct. 17 - Panthers, W 30-8 Feasted on another injury depleted squad @ home..
Oct. 3 - at Bears, W 19-9 Da Bears SUCK
Sept. 26 - at Lions, W 30-13 Beat a young Lions team, big deal.
Sept. 20 - Vikings, W 27-16 Viking on the road, we all know how good they are away from Minn...not very!
Sept. 12 - Giants, W 31-17 Beat the Giants, nothing great in the opener....

WHO HAVE THEY BEATEN?:lolBIG:

New England 34-20:finger:

sportsbet · Jan 30, 2005

New England schedule

Thu 9/9 Indianapolis W 27-24 (dome baby)
Sun 9/19 at Arizona W 23-12 (You're kidding)
bye
Sun 10/3 at Buffalo W 31-17 (during the Bills Horrid start)
Sun 10/10 Miami W 24-10 (HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA)
Sun 10/17 Seattle W 30-20 (Biggest chokers on the planet)
Sun 10/24 NY Jets W 13-7 (OK 1 quality win)
Sun 10/31 at Pittsburgh L 20-34 (SMOKED)
Sun 11/7 at St. Louis W 40-22 (Come on...REALLY?!!!)
Sun 11/14 Buffalo W 29-6 (No offense...still not a great Bills team yet)
Mon 11/22 at Kansas City W 27-19 (HAHAHAHAHAHAHA)
Sun 11/28 Baltimore W 24-3 (We beat them too)
Sun 12/5 at Cleveland W 42-15 (We beat them too)
Sun 12/12 Cincinnati W 35-28 (By the hair on their chinny chin chin)
Mon 12/20 at Miami L 28-29 (HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA)
Sun 12/26 at NY Jets W 23-7 (Good win against a non-offensive Jets team)
Sun 1/2 San Francisco W 21-7 (HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA)
Playoffs
Sun 1/16 Indianapolis W 20-3 (DOME BABY in a snowstorm?)
Sun 1/23 at Pittsburgh W 41-27 (Rookie QB IMPLODES)

THE DOLPHINS???!!!!!!!!!!

sb

HawaiianWarrior+ · Jan 30, 2005

Do u know C H U C K Y he is on the PATS..........

Becareful all EAGLES have to do is cover dude....................

Polaris · Jan 30, 2005

It seems that most New England backers stress the

1) strenght of schedule factor
2) the mystique factor (of the Patriots being the Patriots)

However, I have to agree with HawaiianWarrior, the "Chuck Luck" poster stone cold factor is very reliable and often decisive, Philly!

trench1978 · Jan 30, 2005

OK Journeyman,

Here's a quiz question for ya:

If the Patriots played the Eagles' first 14 games on their schedule, what would their record have been?

By my estimation, the Patriots would have likely gone 13-1 with their one loss being to Pittsburgh. Is that what you have? Or would you have them go 14-0 or 12-2 or 11-3?

You can talk about strength of schedule all you want, but you need to be smart about it and you are being stupid about it. When an NFC team goes 13-0 against other NFC opponents (including playoffs, excluding "preseason" games) and wins on an average of over 16 points (YES, an AVERAGE win of over 16 points in the NFL against all their conference games), they have shown to be the dominant force in their conference with no one coming close whatsoever.

The Eagles got 2 competitive games in the NFC this year against the Redskins and Cowboys, but other than that, they absolutely blew away the opposition. How would the Patriots fare in such a situation?

I don't see any reason why they would have won those games on an average of 20+ points. In fact, the number show that they would have had an average winning margin of 11-14 points, a little bit less than what the Eagles did.

You need to learn about strength of schedule in the NFL and how relevant it is. Teams win some games and lose some games and have a record at the end of the year. If the Eagles only beat teams that finished at 0-16, you could argue that they played no one. But these teams won some games this year and are NFL teams.

Berlino · Jan 30, 2005

I notice Philly backers discounting New England's wins over Indy because obviously the Colts are weaker when playing away from their dome.

Isn't it ironic since Philly's playoff wins were at home against Minny and Atlanta?

Aren't they then admitting that Philly received a bye to the Super Bowl?

The elite of the NFC, their six playoff teams, were only 11-13 against the AFC. It could have been worse, but the NFC playoff teams were 2-0 in OT against the AFC.

On the other hand AFC playoff teams were something like 21-3 against the NFC.

There's no comparison between these two teams' strengths-of-schedule.

sportsbet · Jan 30, 2005

Berlino said:
I notice Philly backers discounting New England's wins over Indy because obviously the Colts are weaker when playing away from their dome.

Isn't it ironic since Philly's playoff wins were at home against Minny and Atlanta?

Aren't they then admitting that Philly received a bye to the Super Bowl?

The elite of the NFC, their six playoff teams, were only 11-13 against the AFC. It could have been worse, but the NFC playoff teams were 2-0 in OT against the AFC.

On the other hand AFC playoff teams were something like 21-3 against the NFC.

There's no comparison between these two teams' strengths-of-schedule.

:lolBIG: Who did Minnesota beat on the road to get to come to our beloved stadium?

The vaunted Green Bay Packers outdoors in the cold with Brett Farve at Lambeau Field!

The Patriots beat a dome team in a snowstorm and a rookie QB who imploded. 17 points off turnovers!

Eagles WIN.

sb

Berlino · Jan 31, 2005

sportsbet said:
:lolBIG: Who did Minnesota beat on the road to get to come to our beloved stadium?

The vaunted Green Bay Packers outdoors in the cold with Brett Farve at Lambeau Field!

The Patriots beat a dome team in a snowstorm and a rookie QB who imploded. 17 points off turnovers!

Eagles WIN.

sb

Well, there you have it. An (8-8) Minnesota teams breaks an eight-game losing streak when playing outdoors and all of sudden that makes them world-beaters outside of a dome. It's truly amazing that somehow the Eagles managed to win against such an invincible foe.

You must be right, anyone who can beat the Vikings at home should be able to win the Super Bowl. Too bad for Washington and Chicago that they're not getting a crack at the Patriots.

sportsbet · Jan 31, 2005

:think2:

Berlino said:
Well, there you have it. An (8-8) Minnesota teams breaks an eight-game losing streak when playing outdoors and all of sudden that makes them world-beaters outside of a dome. It's truly amazing that somehow the Eagles managed to win against such an invincible foe.

You must be right, anyone who can beat the Vikings at home should be able to win the Super Bowl. Too bad for Washington and Chicago that they're not getting a crack at the Patriots.

:think2: :think2: :think2:

Who said anything about beating the Vikes at home? Eagles beat everybody on their plate except Pittsburgh. New England beat everyone on their plate except Pittsburgh (oh wait....and the perennial super power MIAMI DOLPHINS).

sb

trench1978 · Jan 31, 2005

The real question we need to find the answer to is:

How would the Eagles have done if they had played New England's schedule?

The Eagles finished 13-1 in the regular season this year and if they had played the Patriots' tougher schedule, I think it's reasonable to assume that they would have finished 13-3 or 12-4.

If that's the case, then the Patriots would be the slightly better team during the regular season, but not drastically better by any means.

On a related note, the real difference in the Pittburgh / New England game was the 3 INTs thrown by Roth. New England won by 14 points and you have to notice that if you remove the 3 INTs from the game, you have two pretty evenly matched teams.

Of course, the Patriots earned those INTs, no doubt, but will McNabb throw 3 INTs in the Super Bowl? This season, including the playoffs, he has 35 TDs and 8 INTs. He's very good not turning the ball over.

If the Eagles don't turn the ball over, they will likely be in this game until the very end with their strong, balanced defense.

Scott

Roxygurl · Jan 31, 2005

your a passionate die hard eagles fan sportsbet thats for sure. so as a student of eagles football youd be the best teacher to persuade us all why the eagles are the superior team here. the public is in love with the patriots and many of us havent made up our minds yet. so take this time to sell the eagles to everyone else. seriously. im a staunch chargers fan and if my team were in this game id do more than post a giant eagle carrying the lombardi trophy.tell me why i should bet on your team. take this as deep as you can sportsbet maybe you can educate us.what is everyone missing that you and rocky balboa arent?

Berlino · Jan 31, 2005

sportsbet said:
New England beat everyone on their plate except Pittsburgh (oh wait....and the perennial super power MIAMI DOLPHINS).

Does that mean the NFL will not award them the Lombardi trophy, even if they win the Super Bowl?

What does that tell you when MIAMI, 2-10 versus the AFC, manages to go 2-2 against the NFC?

Heck, you ridicule New England's win AT Kansas City. Atlanta lost there 56-10.

Yes, New England lost to Miami. Last year they lost to BUFFALO 31-0 AND to Steve Spurrier's horrible WASHINGTON team, yet somehow managed to crush Philly AND win the Super Bowl.

Is there an icon here that signifies "homer?"

BillCarson · Jan 31, 2005

This is special.." PHILLY I LIVE THERE AND ROOT FOR THE EAGLES HANDICAPPING" " anything can happen handicapping" " The Eagles will find a way" and this is the best yet " NEW ENGLAND LOST TO MIAMI THEREFORE EAGLES WILL WIN SUPERBOWL HANDICAPPING"

Okay....all of the above are true.

Philly beat dante cullpopper and michael vick at home--two garbage bag teams..aren't we good! Now we are under the illusion that we can beat Tom Brady.

This is going to be special........

BE CAREFUL USING THAT MIAMI LOSS AS A BAROMETER ! :dancefool

arty:

ElIguana · Jan 31, 2005

One major difference between these two teams IMO is that Pats get ahead early (almost always score first) and then bury opponents. Eagles seem content to sit on a 7-14 point lead and play prevent D, concordant with their "resting players the last 2 weeks of the season" mentality.

If you look at Philly's "squeakers" vs. Washington, Dallas, & Baltimore, Philly was ahead by 2 scores and in control but gave up late (and ultimately meaningless, unless you consider the point spread!) TDs, but the outcomes of those games were never really in doubt. By the way, did everyone forget that the "horrible" Giants team almost beat Pitt late in the season?

What we don't know is whether Philly's wins were going "all out" and using every play in the book and playing every starter until they were spent to insure victory, or if Andy Reid, after watching his team fold late in the past 3 seasons, possibly due to fatigue, adopted a "just enough to win" mentality throughout this entire season to rest players and finish the season strong.

It's quite possible that NE has the killer instinct to put teams away and Philly doesn't. Or Coach Reid has been "pacing" his team for a marathon season, not a sprint. It sure looked like Philly had more in the tank vs. Minnesota, and they obviously coasted vs. Cincy & St. Louis. I guess we'll find out Sunday. :suomi:

pops69 · Jan 31, 2005

wtf

they put up a large 27 points against that tough viks df

ElIguana · Jan 31, 2005

Hey Pops. Again, scoring "only" 27 against Vikes D fits with Eagles' "just enough" approach. They had the game well in hand, no need to put on the jets. Again, it's just my theory, and I may be full of $hit!

Pops, you are the contrarian of all time, making plays simply by going against the betting public on sides and line moves. Is that your plan for the SB? GL

Dubpoet · Jan 31, 2005

Best Superbowl in years

Guys this is going to be a great game with two great teams. May everyone enjoy it.

mbigtool · Jan 31, 2005

Everyone is so sold on the Pats, which is great. They are a great team. Everyone was sold on the Packers in 97 also a great team. Catching my drift? that's why they play the game. The Packers were 14 pt favs when they played the broncos and alas look what happened. That is why I caution you about everyone being on the Pats. Just my 2 cents! BEWARE!!!:hump:

pops69 · Jan 31, 2005

El Iguana

as i havent had a job since 85, other that betting sports i have found that it pays to go against moves more often than with them.

as you know in the SB, if the dog covers it also wins. if they lose they usually dont cover. I laid a decent amount on bet #3573 AFC -4-. my plan is as follows. If the line moves in fav of Phil (under 7) keep the entire amount on NE. If the line moves above 7- lay off most on phil with the points and 20% on them with the money line

weather also looks fine for this game, and most of the talk is about DF, so might take a shot at the over as well, as most of these games tend in that direction

p.s. key factor chuck luck has NE

trench1978 · Jan 31, 2005

OK, now I'm starting to get frustrated.

Earlier in this thread, I explained to everyone why the Patriots' strength of schedule shows that they are only SLIGHTLY better than the Eagles. And the strength of schedule alone does not make the Patriots a 7 point favorite. Maybe 3 points, but not 7.

If no one counters my arguments, then everyone who posted in this thread has conceded that the Patriots are only slightly better than the Eagles according to strength of schedule. And the strength of schedule is only a small barometer of the strengths of each team.

Scott