Miracle On Broad Street Two? My Perspective of the '08-'09 Philadelphia Eagles

The day is Jan. 11 and I’m watching my team, the Philadelphia Eagles, battle their bitter rival the New York Giants for the third time this season. Only this time it’s in the Playoffs.

As the game is about to begin, I reflect on how my Eagles somehow ended up in this once familiar situation. Their season began with such promise and the prediction of a Super Bowl berth by Sports Illustrated had all of us fans in an uproar. But we fans would soon learn that Championships are won on the field and not in a magazine. This is a fans' perspective on the season that was for the Philadelphia Eagles.

It is Sept. 9, a day that I had been awaiting since the schedule for the Eagles was released the previous May. The Eagles would open their season against the St. Louis Rams, and I would be attending my first game at Lincoln Financial Field.

It was a record setting day for the Eagles as they pummeled the Rams 38-3, winning by 35-points, an opening day record for the Birds. The expectations for a Super Bowl victory were rising by the millisecond.

I was overjoyed with the win, but realized that this was a 16-game season, so I couldn’t get over excited and end up heartbroken in January. The following Monday, the Eagles battled their most hated enemy, the Dallas Cowboys, in the last Monday night game in Texas Stadium.

I think everyone (including me) had mixed emotions about the game. We all hated the Cowboys but realized that they were a great team, heralded as the most talented in all of the NFL. I knew our boys were in for a true test. All night long I sat on pins and needles as I watched my team go blow for blow with their biggest rival in what may be the greatest game I’ve ever seen.

In the end, the Cowboys overcame the Eagles in a 41-37 slugfest. It was a tough loss, but you got the sense that a bright future laid on the horizon for Philly.

The Eagles bounced back with a great 15-6 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. The defense sacked Pro Bowl quarterback Ben Roethlisberger eight times on the day and overcame the best defense in football to improve their record to 2-1. As quick as that win had boosted the hopes of a dream season for the Eagles and us fans, those hopes would take a big blow to the gut in the coming two weeks.

In the two weeks following the impressive victory over Steelers, the Eagles would lose two very tough games. In week four, the Eagles failed on four attempts from the goal line to score the winning touchdown against the Bears and fell 24-20. I simply thought, well we didn’t have our biggest weapon, Brian Westbrook, for tonight’s game, they’ll bounce back once he’s back on the field next Sunday.

Well, the following week wasn't any better. The Eagles blew an early 14-point lead and allowed the division rival Washington Redskins to score 23 unanswered points in an embarrassing 23-17 loss at home.

Following the Redskin disaster, I had a sinking feeling that this was going to be an ugly season. Two consecutive losses like those of the Eagles would do that to a fan. The offense was playing with inconsistency and the defense was struggling in such a way that it gave me nightmares of seasons passed and just about squandered all hope of a Super Bowl run.

But, the Eagles would rebound with a comeback win in San Francisco over the 49ers to head into the bye week. I, more than anyone, was ready for the bye. I mean this team had combined all of the pressure and stress of a full season, and rolled it into a six-game ball.

During the bye, I had all of my non-Eagle fan friends bashing the birds and talking about how we were in last place...again. For more unwanted pressure, the team across the street, the Phillies, had just won the World Series and given the city of Philadelphia its first major championship in 25 years.

So needless to say, the city once dominated by the Eagles was now in a love fest with another team. However, things would turn in the Eagles favor in the coming weeks.

The Eagles followed their week off with a 27-14 win over the Atlanta Falcons and restored some hope in the city, and in me, that they could make the playoffs. I thought to myself then after the win: “ Is that it? Just make the playoffs? A few years ago, we weren’t satisfied with just making the playoffs, it was winning the Super Bowl that mattered most.”

Next, the Eagles traveled to hostile Seattle where they blasted the Seahawks 26-7 and had improved their record to 5-3 and very much alive in the playoff hunt, but they would face their toughest task in stopping the defending champs, and the division leaders, the New York football Giants. The Eagles/Giants rivalry holds a special place in my heart.

I believe that I hate the Giants more than the Dallas Cowboys and the Redskins combined. The Giants have provided me with some of my worst Eagles memories. From the 17-point fourth quarter rally in 2006 to the 12-sack massacre in New York (which I sadly witnessed first hand) to David Akers clanking a 57-yard field goal off of the uprights in 2007, ending the Eagles' playoff hopes.

This game really meant a lot to me, and the city. I spent the entire game on my feet. I really never settled into my chair and watched. I paced and watched my team give its all against the Giants and still not be enough as the Eagles were done in by poor coaching and fell, 36-31. The next two weeks would prove to be the turning point for the team but also its' worst.

Weeks 11 and 12 of the regular season had to be two of the most brutal weeks in franchise and possibly fan history. The Eagles tied the hapless Cincinnati Bengals 13-13, and to throw a little more salt on the wound, Donovan McNabb, who threw three ugly interceptions in the game, didn’t know that NFL games could end in ties.

That statement embarrassed me and the entire fan base. Fans were calling in to 610 WIP screaming about how their kitchen sink knew there could be ties in the NFL. It was awful. The next week in Baltimore, the Eagles were completely embarrassed by the Ravens in a 36-7 drubbing.

In that game, McNabb was benched for the first time in his career after a horrible first half where he turned the ball over three times. Following that defeat, I was angry, everyone was angry. On the way home I really felt like ripping the steering wheel out of my car. All hope seemed lost.

Our quarterback was in a funk, the coaching was terrible and the team was playing with very little passion. But a team meeting called by Brian Dawkins, the Eagles emotional leader and defensive captain, seemed to turn things around.

We now turn to Thanksgiving day, the Eagles are hosting the Arizona Cardinals in their first Thanksgiving game since the Bounty Bowl against Dallas in 1989 where coach Buddy Ryan put a bounty on two of the Cowboys players. That led to a field-wide brawl (too bad I wasn’t alive yet).

Me, my cousin, my uncle and my brother were all going to the game, and we all had mixed feelings about it. But something clicked with the team and they went on to decimate the 7-4 Cardinals, 48-20. McNabb had gotten his swagger back and the Eagles record now stood at 6-5-1.

Then came the Giants again, this time on their home turf in the Meadowlands. The Eagles came in as seven-point underdogs, but dominated the Giants all day long and came out with a 20-14 win.

The score says very little about how that game was played. The Giants' one big play was a blocked field goal that was returned for a touchdown.

Watching that game, I was stunned at how the Eagles held the Giants to just one offensive touchdown, but it came in garbage time when the Eagles were protecting against the big play. So with their record now at 8-5-1, the Eagles prepared to host the Cleveland Browns on Monday Night Football.

I really had no doubts that the Eagles were going to beat Cleveland. It was just a matter of how much they would win by. My prediction was right. The Eagles crushed Cleveland 30-10, but the offense played a little flat which gave me some worries about their game with Washington the following Sunday.

Every fan knew the Eagles were in a dire situation against the Redskins. A win, and your playoff hopes are still intact. A loss however, could be the final dagger in the heart of the Eagles season.

That day in Washington, at the time, seemed to be the worst day of my life. The Eagles offense played a horrible game, just mustering a field goal against the Redskins defense. They had a chance to tie the game at 10 with 12 seconds left. But Reggie Brown caught McNabb’s pass one-yard short of the end zone. Watching the clock tick down to zero felt as though it was the Eagles season going up in smoke.

Earlier in the day the Buccaneers had lost which meant the Eagles were in control of their own destiny. They did not take advantage of that opportunity and their situation was now bleak.

They would now need a miraculous Week 17 to make the playoffs. I was devastated. The entire city was devastated. It seemed as if the Eagles had just given us another Championship tease, as the have plenty of times.

Dec. 28, the Eagles were up against the ropes, fighting for their playoff lives against the Dallas Cowboys. They would need losses from the Buccaneers and a combination of either the Bears or the Vikings.

Somehow, some way, the Buccaneers found a way to blow a 10-point, fourth-quarter lead to the awful Oakland Raiders and the Bears also blew a 10-point lead in a loss to the Texans.

That meant that once again, the Eagles controlled their own destiny. Only this time, they were aware of what occurred just 15 minutes before kickoff. This time, the Eagles wouldn’t waste that opportunity; they destroyed the Cowboys 44-6, ending their playoff hopes as well.

It was so sweet, crushing Dallas’ playoff dreams and stealing their spot as the sixth seed in the playoffs.

The Vikings beat the Giants ( who had locked up the top record in the NFC and were playing for nothing) and clinched the NFC North which set up a date with the Eagles in Minnesota.

In the days leading up to the Eagles/Vikings wild card matchup, Minnesota was struggling to sell out their tickets and there was the threat of a blackout in that area. If the game had been played in Philadelphia, that game would have been sold out in a matter of at least 10 minutes.

Eagles fans took advantage of the high number of tickets available and turned the Metrodome into the Linc for the afternoon. I watched nervously as the Eagles battled their way to a 26-14 win. That meant a third matchup between the Giants and the Eagles, only this time it meant everything.

The Eagles would come in as the underdogs...again, only this time they were the hottest team in the NFC winning four out of five games. The result, another victory over the defending champs 23-11.

The Eagles have advanced to their fifth NFC title game in eight years. At this point, as a fan, I’m at a loss for words. No one would have believed me if anyone or myself would have said this would happen following the disaster in Baltimore.

Now, once again, the city of Philadelphia is stricken with Eagles Fever. Once again, the expectations are high and once again, the Eagles have a shot at the Super Bowl. Only one can think about the euphoria that this City and the fans will go through if that once seemingly impossible dream were to miraculously come true. That would truly be the Miracle on Broad Street.