Rough Draft

Home Field Advantage: Eagles

The Eagles beat the Redskins 31-7 on Saturday and Detroit beat St. Louis today, meaning the Eagles get a bye week next week and home field advantage throughout the rest of the playoffs. After the Eagles lost to San Francisco last week in overtime, they needed to this week and have St. Louis lose in order to secure home field advantage. Thankfully Detroit pulled through with a 30-20 come from behind victory over St. Louis. Apparently there's something good in Michigan besides Lynn. ;) The other plus is the Eagles go into the playoffs after a big win over the Redskins, while St. Louis enters after a disappointing loss.

While I'm glad the Eagles got home field advantage, it isn't everything. They lost at home in the NFC Championship game last year to the Bucs. Overall though, I'm quite happy with the Eagles' prospects of making it to the Super Bowl this year. At the end of last season, I thought that was going to be their last really good chance for a couple seasons. They lost several key players defensively, including lineman Hugh Douglas who is one of the best in the league. There was also some doubt as to whether Duce Staley would be back, fortunately he was.

The one sore spot for the Eagles as they enter the playoffs is that they will probably be without key playmaker Brian Westbrook. The Eagles have been using 3 running backs all season, so they are still strong at that position, but throughout the season it seemed as though Westbrook was the one who came through with the most big plays in crucial situations.

Overall, the Eagles are a very strong team and they have as good a chance of making to the Super Bowl as they have the last 2 years. Hopefully this will be the year they finally make it to the Super Bowl, and if they do, I think they have an excellent chance of winning it.