Which playoff team is the most dangerous threat?
By Josh Hill
Philadelphia Eagles
NFC East, (9-1)
Week 11 Result: Destroyed Dallas on national television, 37-9
One Weakness: In order to win in the playoffs, a team has to know how to beat an opponent multiple ways. It’s a tired cliche but one that holds true every time its put to the test: the playoffs take even the smallest flaw and blows it up to gigantic proportions.
For the Eagles, that flaw is inexperience. Carson Wentz looks like an MVP candidate and the defense is intense. But how will all of this come together on the biggest stage against the backdrop of a one-and-done situation? Philly has improved week by week and it’s getting hard to list reasons why they’ll fail but inexperience in the playoffs can’t be discounted. The Eagles loss to the Chiefs (or the near-loss to the Giants) comes to mind as far as how a playoff game might go for them. Philly might have been the better team over the course of a season but put them in a situation where things don’t bounce their way and all of a sudden things stop working. They will be a hard out but they’re far from a sure-fire bet to march through the NFC.
Why They’re Legit: Good teams just find ways to win, and the Eagles are mastering that. Nothing on the team is sexy, but it’s the confidence that makes them dangerous. Wentz isn’t the best quarterback in the league but he’s absorbing the game each week and getting better. Doug Peterson isn’t on the first page of names you think of as NFL gurus, yet he’s coaching his team to the best record in football. The playoffs expose your flaws, but the Eagles know how to win games and each week learn something new.
The addition of Jay Ajayi can’t be overstated either. Philly’s passing game is legit but adding a running threat to the mix makes them even more dangerous.