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The Philadelphia Eagles will attempt to clinch the No. 1 overall seed in the NFC and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs with a victory over the Oakland Raiders on Monday night at Lincoln Financial Field.

 

With their 34-29 road win against the New York Giants last week, the Eagles (12-2) secured a first-round bye in the playoffs. A win over the Raiders (6-8) or a Minnesota Vikings loss against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday would seal the NFC's top seed.

 

The Eagles are off to their best start since 2004, when they advanced to the Super Bowl and ultimately lost to the New England Patriots.

 

If the Packers upset the Vikings, the Eagles potentially could rest some starters in preparation for the postseason.

 

"I've begun thinking, but my focus is winning the game on Monday night, because that to me is the most important thing," Eagles coach Doug Pederson said. "Once we get to next week, we'll figure out next week. But my mindset this week is all about the Oakland Raiders, 'Monday Night Football,' and if we win that one. And like I've said pretty much these last few weeks, we control our destiny right now. So that's the focus for me."

 

Philadelphia's victory at New York wasn't pretty, but backup quarterback Nick Foles proved he is ready for the challenge that awaits the rest of the way. Carson Wentz, who was a legitimate Most Valuable Player candidate, sustained a torn anterior cruciate ligament the week before against the Los Angeles Rams.

 

Foles started against the Giants and finished 24 of 38 for 237 yards with four touchdown passes and no interceptions. The four scores, which went to four different receivers, were the most he tossed since he had seven against the Raiders during the 2013 season.

 

"I just think his poise and his play-making," Philadelphia offensive coordinator Frank Reich said when asked what stood out about Foles. "Obviously, you could tell right away, he's been there before. Then he did what we needed him to do. He played good, sound football, but also be ready to make big plays. He provided that as well."

 

Eagles cornerback Patrick Robinson was injured during the fourth quarter against the Giants and remained in the concussion protocol through Wednesday.

 

On defense, the Eagles scuffled a bit over the past two games, allowing 64 points to the Los Angeles Rams and the Giants.

 

"Every game you're not going to play your best," Philadelphia defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz said. "That's just life in the NFL. But part of it is becoming battle-tested and having some awareness that there is that urgency every single week."

 

The Raiders, who will make their first appearance in Philadelphia since 2005, are coming off a tough 20-17 loss to the Dallas Cowboys.

 

Oakland quarterback Derek Carr was 21 of 38 for 171 yards with a pair of touchdowns to wide receiver Michael Crabtree. The Raiders compiled 122 yards rushing, including 76 from running back Marshawn Lynch and 47 from Carr, his highest total of the season.

 

For the season, Carr has 3,113 passing yards with 20 TD passes and 10 interceptions.

 

Defensive end Khalil Mack registered two sacks against Dallas, giving him at least one sack in five consecutive games.

 

The Raiders will travel cross country with the mindset of ending their two-game losing streak. Oakland is barely alive in the AFC wild-card race.

 

"We're going to play to win," Oakland coach Jack Del Rio said. "We're just going to play to win. We're going to do everything we can to get over this 'close but no cigar' finish we had. ... We'll have an extra day of recovery, and then we'll get in with the normal game week leading up to our opportunity on Christmas night."

 

Oakland will be without left tackle Donald Penn for the rest of the season after he sustained a foot injury early in the game against the Cowboys. Penn was due to undergo surgery Wednesday. It will be the first regular-season game since 2007 that Penn will have missed, snapping a streak of 170 consecutive starts.

 

Marshall Newhouse and Vadal Alexander are viable options to fill in for Penn.

 

 

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When's the last time the NFL had such a weak, surefire one-and-done #1 seed? I'm proud of the Eagles for locking down home-field after Wentz went down, but we are absolute toast in January.

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That was painful to watch but... the alternative was a discussion that frankly sounded like cancer from what I overheard.

 

I think the Eagles still have a shot, but not a good one. They'll need their run game to step up and their defense to play lights out. The former is tricky considering they'd have to play at least two of Minnesota, LA, New Orleans, and Carolina... all of which have pretty stout defenses at minimum. But the Vikings in particular have a spotty ENOUGH Oline that if they play the Eagles, Philly's pass rush could cause Keenum issues.

Edited by OSUViking

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The Eagles can win a playoff game if they avoid Atlanta. Their secondary would just get blown up by Julio

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I don't see Philly beating the Rams with Foles starting the whole game. It would be hard for the Eagles to win a rematch even with Wentz, IMO.

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Idk where yall are getting this love affair with the Falcons. Atlanta will beat nobody. They are mediocre at best. Ryan is simply not there this year.

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Idk where yall are getting this love affair with the Falcons. Atlanta will beat nobody. They are mediocre at best. Ryan is simply not there this year.

Yeah the Falcons are the team I would be least worried about. They're kind of a soft team and I'm not sure how they would do in Philly come January.

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Atlanta can show up and be a tough team to play (look at the Vikings game for a relevant data point) but yeah probably not consistent enough to contend, especially since they won't have HF at all throughout the playoffs.

I don't see Philly beating the Rams with Foles starting the whole game. It would be hard for the Eagles to win a rematch even with Wentz, IMO.

 

Terrified of a rematch with the Rams and the Saints. Basically everyone in the NFC is a game to be worried about.

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Some of you are overreacting to one bad game. Even with the Oakland game, as a whole the Eagles have only played two bad games all year long (Seattle and Oakland). They were due for a slobberknocker. It happens.

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Overreacting to one bad game?

 

No, I think it's you overrating Philly. The Rams are a god damn excellent football team, Bware. Your Vikings are, too. Both should be favored against any team playing their backup QB, on the road or not. It's time for you to stop assuming Philly is the better team in every game they play. They're not.

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I'm not. I think both Minnesota and LA would eviscerate Philly right now, mostly due to their secondary. Darby and Mills vs. Theilen and Diggs? ROFL.

 

I just don't think it's fair to condemn them over one bad game.

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Mills jumps at every slant route he sees. Any team is a few sluggos or double moves away from blowing the Eagles out. Although it would be kinda great to see him nab one of those. Aint no place like the playoffs to redeem yourself

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It was an ugly game but gotta give credit to Philly's defense playing the way it did. They got beat on a few plays, but ultimately they came up with huge stops.

 

For once, I'm actually excited to watch the playoffs for a reason other than the Vikings.

Edited by OSUViking

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Mills jumps at every slant route he sees. Any team is a few sluggos or double moves away from blowing the Eagles out. Although it would be kinda great to see him nab one of those. Aint no place like the playoffs to redeem yourself

Jalen Mills is to put it politely, not the best athlete at CB. He's been one of the most targeted players in football since he came into the league and he got beat a lot last year but still made plays and tackled well. This year he's given up a lot of receptions but he's made tackles and up until the last two weeks, he's done a great job not getting beat for big plays. Now this is partially due to the Eagles having an excellent safety duo as one of the best pass rushes in the league but Mills obviously puts in a lot of work. Honestly I would be more concerned about guys just outrunning him in situations where the safety either can't or bites on something.

 

The Eagles secondary could definitely end up being a strength. As for Darby, keep in mind he was traded to the Eagles right before the start of the regular season and then after only a couple weeks of practice he gets hurt for the first half of the year. He's capable of playing better. Robinson has played like an elite slot corner, so he's probably only capable of playing much worse but he's finally been healthy and I think he's a good scheme fit. Then you have Rasul Douglas who definitely had his ups and downs but he got some pretty high quality reps and competed out there against veteran players. I feel pretty good about him as a 4th CB. The Eagles have also used Corey Graham at times at FS with Jenkins playing one of the slot CB positions which has worked out really well. Right now all those guys are healthy for the Eagles and we might just see Sidney Jones get some snaps against Dallas this week. I don't see that factoring into the playoffs. He won't even dress but it's still pretty cool.

 

That's not all though. The Eagles have had the best run defense all year and have one of the most effective pass rushing rotations in the football. The rotation factors into the run defense too though because they're always fresh.

 

In no particular orderthe biggest weaknesses of the Eagles are 1. speed in the secondary (besides Darby). 2. LB'er depth. Nigel Bradham has played at a pro bowl level and Kendricks has played very well for the most but can still be exploited. Ellerbe can be effective but in a very limited capacity and Walker, Goode and Grugier-Hill are all special teams players (the cost of having elite special teams) 3. Schematically the Eagles can be susceptible to plays that take advantage of the nature of their aggressive style of play up front. I think the issues with the wide 9 are well documented but when run right with the right personnel and the right guy calling the plays it can be very effective. Schwartz has had a couple bad games this year but I wouldn't take many DC's over him.

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Eagles are such a fucking joke. Our team is utter hot garbage offensively with Downing at the helm and you guys made our defense look like a competent group for the first time this season on the road...

 

Frauds.

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911, I'd like to report a murder

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Frauds? Dont troll little guy. We all know this isnt the same team that won the first 11. No need to rub it in. The season is a success regardless of any result from here as they passed all my (and everyones) expectations going into it. Too bad (for you) the same cannot be said for the very disappointing Raiders.

The fact that you couldn't soundly defeat the god awful Raiders and even allowed them to even score on the defense your other Eagle comrades rant and rave about is my issue.

 

The Raiders defense is a joke, there's not reason why they shouldn't of put up their best outing of the season.

 

As someone that lives in Eagles territory... hope has not left Eagle fans. Many.. MANY believe they can still make a deep playoff run...

 

And by God as long as that hope for them is within them, my hatred will burn even brighter.

 

I like you GA, but the rest of your comrades need bullets to the head.

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The fact that you couldn't soundly defeat the god awful Raiders and even allowed them to even score on the defense your other Eagle comrades rant and rave about is my issue.

 

The Raiders defense is a joke, there's not reason why they shouldn't of put up their best outing of the season.

 

As someone that lives in Eagles territory... hope has not left Eagle fans. Many.. MANY believe they can still make a deep playoff run...

 

And by God as long as that hope for them is within them, my hatred will burn even brighter.

 

I like you GA, but the rest of your comrades need bullets to the head.

Its kinda like dumb and dumber. So Youre saying theres a chance and all that. Its tough to separate the fan from the fanatic.

 

I dont think they have a win in them against any nfc playoff teams but I hope hope for the best :shrug:

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I think the Eagles would have a much better chance of winning a playoff game if the Eagles would lean on their running game more. It's weird because there were a couple games this year with Wentz starting that Pederson and Reich dialed up around 40 runs. I think that probably goes to show Carson Wentz has a bigger impact on calling the game than we might have thought though because Pederson himself said that Carson called those runs to close out the game against The Giants and the Chargers. Makes you wonder how much Foles being under center has to do with all these passes because I don't think it's totally out of the question to think that they've given Foles the complete offense. He's a veteran and he's very comfortable with the playbook.

 

Anyway, right now a deep playoff run for the Eagles is winning one game. Win one game and they host a conference championship game. There's a reason why the saying "any given Sunday" has been around as long as it has. The NFL playoffs are single elimination. In a close game in the bitter cold a lot of crazy things can happen. A big part of winning a super bowl is getting the right bounces and getting the right calls. If the Eagles defense gets hot and the running game is working they absolutely have a shot.

Edited by seanbrock

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Anyway, right now a deep playoff run for the Eagles is winning one game. Win one game and they host a conference championship game. There's a reason why the saying "any given Sunday" has been around as long as it has. The NFL playoffs are single elimination. In a close game in the bitter cold a lot of crazy things can happen. A big part of winning a super bowl is getting the right bounces and getting the right calls. If the Eagles defense gets hot and the running game is working they absolutely have a shot.

 

I tend to agree, but if they run into a proverbial buzzsaw of a run defense, they are screwed.

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If I'm the Eagles I'm running a lot of 3 TE sets with Alshon Jeffery and just trying to bully teams. The Eagles ca have 3 TE's that catch passes and it would give them numbers in the run game even if Ertz kind of struggles in that area if he's the TE on the outside of formations maybe he could block a safety or a CB better than he could a LB or a DE. Line up like that and run to the right and I think they'd be tough to stop. Keep in mind Ajayi and Clement can both go out for passes or stay into block or chip and go out for a pass. The screen game would be a threat. A lot of match ups can be exploited. It would also give Nick Foles a lot of easy attempts when he did throw.

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