Philadelphia Eagles: Has Dream Team Turned into an NFL Nightmare?

One and two starts never sit well with anyone unless you start 0-3, so up in Philly there's still plenty of hope to go around, but this "Dream Team" business has about run its course.

I'm not sure Andy Reid was very happy about that moniker when it was first being bantered around, but the Eagles gave some life to it when they picked up the cream of the free-agent crop, that guy Nnamdi, whose last name happens to be Asomugha.

Just about every fanbase in the NFL was clamoring for their team to sign that guy Nnamdi. Dream signing, lottery money signing, Eagles signing.

Somewhere on the way to a 2-1 start, something happened at Lincoln Financial Field in the City of Brotherly Love (except for those wearing the opponent's jersey) last Sunday when the Eagles fell victim to the New York Giants (of all teams!).

The 2-1 was suddenly 1-2 and those aren't the kind of starts dreams are made of, are they?

Just when the Dream Team nonsense was starting to fade like a cheap coat of paint, Eagles linebacker Jamar Chaney thought it pertinent to go right ahead and compare his team to the Miami Heat, that other Dream Team from last year's NBA season.

Before we get into Jamar's jive, anyone who has discussed, debated or otherwise argued sports talk has been instructed from an early age that any comparison to anything NFL vs. anything NBA is simply comparing apples to oranges and that it is fruitless (sorry) to do stuff like that.

Back to Jamar and his gem, as told to PhillySportsDaily.com then recounted to us by Mike Florio over at ProFootballTalk.com:

"We're getting tested right now and as long as we stay strong, we're going to be all right."

Now, that's where Jamar should have left it. Great sports cliche, it works, doesn't it? Every NFL team is being tested now, isn't that what real games are for?

But then Jamar went just a tad further, adding:

"The season ain't over yet. We're 1-2 now. The Miami Heat started out the season 8-8 and everybody was jumping on them like it was the end of the world and they ended up making it all the way to the finals. It's not the end of the world."

We're on board with Jamar that, after three games, it's certainly not the end of the world unless you're a team without Peyton Manning or some other sinking ship akin to that.

He was right about the Eagles being tested.

The Giants tested the big bucks out of Nnamdi Asomugha, who happened to be the highest-priced free agent in the market and who also happened to watch Victor Cruz run past him on the way to a 74-yard catch-and-run for the Giants last Sunday.

And if that wasn't enough of a nightmare, Nnamdi, whose last name also happens to be Moneybags, watched Cruz for a second time when he simply leaped up and snagged a 28-yard touchdown pass from the Manning who is playing this year—Eli.

Did we mention it was a division loss?

That's the bad news, the good news is that the NFC East is certainly wide open and, yes, it is too early to tell much at all. That takes us to Sunday's game at Lincoln Financial, when the Eagles host the 49ers.

You know darn well that Philly Fan has a "W" marked next to this one.

Too early to say "must win"?

If Jamar Chaney and the rest of the Eagles are indeed Miami Heat imitators, they certainly need to be 2-2 and not 1-3.

One and three?

Now that would be a nightmare of sorts, wouldn't it?