When Does Training Camp Start?

Well, that was disappointing. Pick the correct winning team twice in a row- and still get beat by not covering? Oh- and the Eagles lost the game too. Don’t be sad Philadelphia! Think of the good things! Maybe Reno Mahe has returned his last kick, even played his last game here. Dhani Jones too. Almost for sure! Hopefully Sean Considine is done as a regular too. If you are a strong safety looking for work, no matter how bad you are against the pass, be sure to send your resume to Andy Reid. Unless you’re Michael Lewis of course.

Well, what can you do? After this weekend, only four teams will still be playing- and, with this defense, the Eagles are categorically not one of the four best teams in the League. I’m not exactly sure the Saints are an elite outfit either- but they’ve beaten the Eagles twice now, so they’re better than Philadelphia. Sure, I’d have liked to have a gotten one of those two shots in our building- but that is not the League.

As all one score losses are, this one is frustrating. But the Eagles have played a lot of close, desperate games over the past seven weeks, one was due to go against them. At least they got beat, as opposed to losing. Philadelphia did all the things they could do. Trying to get the 30 points needed to win the game, they removed the “run-first” shackles from the offense and were rewarded with 400 yards of offense, several huge plays, and three touchdowns. They committed no turnovers, made their kicks. They played smart, hung around- turned the game into “who makes a bad mistake in the fourth quarter first?” affair- a game where they had a 50-50 chance. The Saints finally gave them that mistake with three minutes to go. Unfortunately, the Eagles had four snaps, didn’t really run a good football play in any of them, took a penalty, had to punt. Play too many 50-50 games, and I suppose eventually one will go against you.

I’ll fix the team next week some time- but obviously, unlike last year, this season leaves a good residual feeling. They overachieved a little. They certainly fought. They won the division and a play-off game. It feels a little like the 2001 NFC Championship game. The Eagles went to St. Louis a decided underdog, scrapped like crazy, blooded the young guys in a real big environment, let them get real close- close enough to taste it.

Clearly, 2007 was about re-confirming the team was going in the right direction again after that huge post-Super Bowl set-back. The Eagles introduced what, ten new starters? I was hoping for, predicting something around .500, maybe slip into the play-offs with a break or two.

Sure, there was some karma here. Jeff Garcia was a stroke of big luck (ed note- and Donovan getting hurt is what sort of karma exactly?); I shudder to think if this had been the year we found out about Mike McMahon’s response to the elephant. The offensive line had no right to expect the two offensive tackles would have such solid, healthy years.

But the foundation to play-off success is getting that first round bye, and that edifice is built on ruling your division like a god. To me, that is the singular most encouraging thing about the season- that Daddy is back atop NFC East. If you want to be churlish today, you can subtract style points from parts of the Eagles’ season and indubitably, last night. But this series of facts is exciting and chock full of said style points: 6-1 in the division, six straight division wins over bitter rivals, sweep the hated Cowboys, sweep the fink Redskins, sweep a December slate of three straight division road games in front of dumbfounded crowds left seething with resentment- plus get and win a home play-off game in the division.

All play-off losses are brutal. Hey, I’m still up at 4AM. But now, it is over. The Eagles weren’t going to win the Super Bowl in 2007, the Saints are real easy to root for and things feel good around here for a good run in 2008.

The end of 2005 was about getting young again- which they did. This campaign was about getting good again- which they did. Next year will be about bombing division opponents, winning multiple playoff games and wreaking havoc for sixty minutes- just like old times. And just like 2004, the Eagles will be the next Vegas favorite to win the NFC Championship.