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Health & Fitness

Eagles Win Epic Nailbiter to Clinch Playoff Berth

Week 17 of the 2013 NFL season is the perfect example of why fans love football.

Unless you are a Cowboys fan, in which case, Week 17 each year is a continuous nightmare.

On a day packed with drama all around the NFL as teams jockeyed for playoff berths, Eagles fans could only half-enjoy it as they had to wait until Sunday night for the most important Eagles game since at least 2010.

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When they thought the interminable wait was over, they found out there were actually three more hours of nail-biting awaiting them. Any Eagles fan who has been one for more than a couple years knew this one would not be easy.

And it wasn’t. At one point, disaster loomed, but when it was said and done, the bullet lodged in the Cowboys’ foot was fired this time by Kyle Orton instead of the usual culprit, Tony Romo.

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The Eagles fought, the Cowboys folded, and Philadelphia escaped Dallas with a 24-22 victory and the NFC East crown.

All week, the talk was about how Tony Romo’s absence would affect the outcome. Remarkably, Orton channeled Romo to a T. He was very effective for 58 minutes, and then choked just as Romo almost always does.

The game was an exhausting struggle to watch. The Cowboys absolutely showed up and played better than they had in weeks.

The Eagles took a 3-0 lead midway through the first quarter and never relinquished it. But the Cowboys were close all game long… and kept getting closer.

With just over 6 minutes left, the Eagles extended their lead to eight points on a six-yard Bryce Brown sweep. But just when fans began to breathe a little easier, the proceedings took a bad turn.

The Cowboys converted a fourth-and-nine into a 32-yard touchdown with just under four minutes to play. Cary Williams made a great play to prevent the Cowboys from converting the two-point conversion, but the Eagles’ lead stood at just two points with four minutes to play.

On their ensuing possession, the Eagles could not manage a first down. They had taken just 1:51 off the clock and when Foles took a third-down sack at his own 19-yard line, even the most faithful Eagles fan could see the potential for disaster.

They should have remembered they were playing the Cowboys.

Unsung hero, Punter Donnie Jones, uncorked a beautiful, 56-yard punt that flipped the field position, with the Cowboys starting at their own 32-yard line; however, the Cowboys had momentum, possession, a two-point deficit, and a kicker who had been booming kicks through the Texas night air all game long.

Orton, too, had played well all game long, thanks in large part to a nonexistent Eagles pass rush. He had made one crucial mistake earlier, but had refused to make one more, the one the Eagles needed.

Then, it happened. On the first play of the all-important drive, Brandon Boykin stepped in front of an errant Orton pass, cradled it for an interception and essentially ended the game. The play preserved the victory, the NFC East crown and allowed a fan base that had turned blue in the face from holding its breath for three hours to finally exhale.

Had the Eagles allowed this game to slip away, it would have been a searing, heart-wrenching end to a very encouraging season. Seven months of second-guessing by bitter fans would have ensued. Chip Kelly would still have been seen in a positive light, but questions would have remained.

Kelly did not have his worst day, nor did he have his best. As a play-caller, he seemed to drift away from the run again too much, especially throughout the third quarter. The final numbers do not bear that out, as McCoy turned in another exceptional effort with 131 yards on 27 carries, but their distribution could have been better allocated.

The whole game felt uneasy, but was especially so when the Eagles seemed to be passing too frequently. It was when Kelly went back to the run that the Eagles had success.

McCoy spearheaded the fourth-quarter drive that ended with the Brown touchdown run. He also carried the load on the preceding drive that got the Eagles down to the six-yard line. Then, Kelly went away from McCoy and called a ridiculous trick play with Brad Smith, two more passes, and a fourth-down, goal-line quarterback sneak that got stuffed, turning the ball—and the momentum—over to the Cowboys

Kelly is a gambler, but the sure three points he neglected there could have cost the Eagles the game.

It didn’t because the Eagles’ opportunistic defense came up big yet again. Billy Davis was much maligned early in the season, but deserves a ton of credit for keeping this group together and turning them into a unit that has forced takeaways and preserved leads all season long.

Nick Foles had a score to settle with Dallas; back in his hometown, he settled it. Like everything else in this game, it was not easy. Foles ended with a 124.4 rating, closing the season with the second-highest quarterback rating in the history of the NFL.

He again avoided throwing an interception and ended the regular season with 27 TDs against two interceptions. Those who did not think he should be the starting quarterback have been eating crow for months now. Now that Foles led the team to victory in an NFC East battle for the division, the sky’s the limit for him going forward.

Now the team that has once again made the Linc into a formidable place for opponents to play will test a four-game home winning streak against the New Orleans Saints on a Saturday Wild Card showdown.

Fortunately, the Saints are sending their 3-5 road team and not the unbeatable Superdome version of the same roster.

The Eagles have a better offense, while the Saints boasts a better defense, turnovers aside. The Saints are a sub-.500 team on the road, and temperatures will fall below 30 degrees, leading odds-makers to favor the Eagles by a field goal.

Chip Kelly has a done a tremendous job this year. His single-mindedness overshadows his tactical miscues by a mile. He isn’t wowed by the moment, and his young team follows his example.

The Eagles were not expected to be here. Now that they are, there is no reason to believe they cannot go farther. After giving their fans a late Christmas present, there would be no better way to ring in the New Year than an Eagles playoff victory at the Linc. Go Birds!

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