The Triangle

Issue date: 2/4/05 Section: Sports

Media Credit: The Triangle Tom Holzerman [Click to enlarge]

Forget about the seven point spread on the game in favour of the Patriots. Forget about Merril Hoge (who said that the Eagles would only finish 8-8, and then said that both the Vikings and Falcons would beat them) and all the other idiots proclaiming the Patriots will win their third title in four years without the benefit of the game being played yet. Forget about those mouth Bostonians and the New Englanders in your dorm room, some of whom may be your roommates, who are screaming about how the Pats are invincible. Forget about everything you have read to this point. Just forget about it.

The Eagles can win Super Bowl XXXIX.

Yes, the Patriots are the best team the Eagles will have played the whole year, even better than the Pittsburgh Steelers. However, those Pats were banged up and without key players such as Corey Dillon and Deion Branch. When the Pats got healthy, they trashed Pittsburgh. And Pittsburgh did trash us, remember? I'm sure you'd rather not.

Yes, the Patriots are also most complete team the Eagles have faced. They wont be able to key in 100 percent on the pass either because the run game is nonexistant, like they could against the Cowboys. And when the offence is somewhat complete, they won't be able to rely on selfish players and incompetent coaching to sabotage the Pats from within like they could with the Vikings.

Also, don't forget about the Patriot's defense, the one that made the record setting offense of Peyton Manning's Colts look like a bunch of pee-wee rejects.

However, for all the faults of the Eagles, and for all the good things the Pats have about them, the Eagles are probably also the most complete team the Patriots have faced. The Patriots may also be able to stop the run well enough, but the Eagles barely run the ball. Usually, passing against the Patriots is suicide, but Ty Law is hurt and inactive. The Eagles can definitely take advantage of that situation better than any other team could this year. Once again, you may revert back to how that rag-tag secondary shut down Manning and his three receivers, regarded as the best in the league, but then you'd be forgetting that the Colts play softer than a down pillow when they have to play in the snow in Foxboro.

Continued...

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