I am not at all disappointed by this loss because I have two favorite NFL teams: The Carolina Panthers and whoever is playing against the Philadelphia Eagles. Their fans have earned this hatred from all football fans over the past 20 years by being a general nuisance wherever they go, win or lose. When the win big games they ransack their own downtown, when the lose big games they do the same thing. On the road their fans routinely get into fights with home team fans and Philly is one of the only stadiums that I am aware of where the administration keeps the visiting fans in a separate area because there have been too many instances of visiting fans being hospitalized by the ravenous home fans.
So when they were playing Tampa Bay I was rooting for Tampa despite the fact that I have no real love for Tampa.
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It is not uncommon for an underdog to come and rip up a fantastic performance in the post-season and eliminate a "better" team. It happens quite often actually and is something about the playoffs that can put you on cloud-9 or break your heart as a fan. What is so unusual about the Eagles this season has been that at the start of it, they looked absolutely dominant and everyone was thinking that there is nobody in the NFL that can stop them. They went 10-1 in the first part of the season and most of these wins were BIG wins. Then it was like a switch got turned off in Philadelphia and their football black magic no longer worked anymore.
When a team wins 10 out of 11 of their first games, the automatic reaction is that this team could very well go all the way. Then they lost 6 of their last 7 including a loss to the Arizona Cardinals who are one of the worst teams in the entire league. The one victory they had was against the Giants and they nearly blew a 17-point lead in that game.
The Eagles fall from grace was one that I celebrated because I hate them but also one that didn't make a great deal of sense. This was the SAME TEAM that they started the season with so why are they all of a sudden not able to perform?
A sports pundit that I quite like named Reuben Frank has this to say about the Eagles
They can’t run. They can’t throw. They can’t block. They can’t pressure. They can’t tackle. They can’t cover. They can’t coach.
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Despite all of this, many fans including myself had a couple of notions in our minds. One was that they were preserving energy because they thought they already had a playoff spot locked in and another notion was that once they really NEED to win, they will turn the heat back on. Even though they had lost 6 of their last 7 games they still entered the game as -200 favorites to win on the straight bet and -3 on point spread. At the start of the game they were favorites by 60% of the pundits and AI that judges the presumed victors in real time. Once the first quarter was over and Tampa Bay was up 10-0, that notion quickly changed.
Philly managed to score 9 points in the 2nd quarter but TB scored 6. It was evident that the Eagles were sweating when they went for 2-point conversions in the first half. This is something that we almost never see. Of course they failed in converting this...badly.
The thing about Tampa Bay advancing is that Tampa is only in the playoffs at all because a team from every conference MUST advance. The NFC South, which is where Tampa hails from is by far the worst in the NFL The Bucs lost to the Eagles early on in the season and they have a highlight reel almost completely devoid of "highs" including the biggest snoozefest of the year where they managed an extremely victory over the Carolina Panthers with a final score of 9-0 . That was a week ago.
So basically, if Philly can't beat Tampa Bay, it was only their incredible start that got them to the playoffs at all.
The good news for any Detroit Lion fans is that Tampa is who you are facing next and I think we are going to get a show in that game that proves that Tampa doesn't really belong here. I have a soft spot for the Lions and would like to see them go all the way to the NFC championship.
At the moment, not that my opinion really means anything anymore because I have been wrong so many times this season, it would be that we are going to see San Fran vs Kansas City in the Super Bowl. Yeah yeah, I know Baltimore is on fire right now but I hate that team almost as much as I do Philly, so I'm gonna pull for the Chiefs.