9-7?

My brother looks at the schedule and, independent of me, still thinks the Eagles have an outside shot at the playoffs.

 

He writes: “4 of the Eagles last 5 games are very winnable – the Seahawks aren’t any good and neither are Bills.  Giants at home? I like our chances.  Cowboys looks like an L and Saints is probably too, but the jury is still out on them.

 

Best case is 9-7 (lose to Pats and Cowboys) and that gets us close only if Lions start playing like the Lions and get to 7 losses.  We win tiebreaker against them, though we need to beat the Skins and probably the Giants AND Cowboys games (which looks likes a loss and will cost us a berth) to beat them (the Lions) in tiebreaker.  No one else in the NFC is any good.

 

The poor AFC teams.  To get to the Super Bowl you are going to have to beat the Colts and Pats back to back on the road.  It’s not happening.  The Steelers look good and just crushed the Ravens and they have absolutely NO shot at making the SB.  The Eagles have a better chance than the Steelers – seriously – what’s more likely? We beat the Cowboys and Saints to get to the playoffs where we’d play the Packers and Seahawks, or Pittsburgh goes to Indy and then New England in successive weeks and wins.  I really feel bad for the AFC teams.   And then in one game (NFC vs. Pats/Colts) anything can happen.  The NFC has one small chance in SB.  AFC teams have no chance.”

 

I would only add that it is a very long season, and it is only halfway gone. Injuries will start to pile up. A road win vs. the Cowboys looks unlikely at the moment, but if Tony Romo, or Marion Barber, or #81 were to get hurt than the Eagles’ chances would look considerably better.