Theyre the team nobody wants to face in the playoffs. And the team nobody has to face in the playoffs.
The Eagles go into their Week 17 season finale against the Redskins as one of the hottest teams in football, coming off three straight double-digit wins, two of them on the road, two of them against teams in playoff contention.
Most years, the Eagles December surge carries them into the playoffs. This year, its going to carry them home in another week.
So all the Eagles have left to play for is an 8-8 record and an 11th non-losing season in the last 12 years.
And the hollow title of hottest team not to reach the playoffs.
Were not where we want to be, but were going to keep working up until the very last game, safety Nate Allen said. The way the season was going, we could have easily shut it down and packed it in, but were rolling now.
Its going to be tough watching the playoffs, but its a learning thing. Gotta start strong and finish strong or its just not enough.
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The Eagles were 4-8 just 15 days ago and coming off blowout losses to the Patriots and Seahawks.
Now, on the heels of a second straight lopsided win over the Cowboys, theyre 7-8, and only the fact that the Giants and Cowboys face each other Sunday -- and one of them has to win (or both of them have to tie) -- has eliminated the Eagles from postseason contention.
Theyre disappointed that we dont have a shot for the playoffs, head coach Andy Reid said. The team wants to continue to play.
Instead, this is only the fourth time in 13 seasons under Andy Reid and only the eighth time in the last 24 years the Eagles will not play in the postseason.
Everybody has to be happy at this point (theyre not playing the Eagles in the playoffs) the way were playing, cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha said. Its crazy. We went to Seattle and (faced) New England and didnt look anything like (this). I dont know what happened. We just started playing better as a team.
Its just tough because if we had gotten in, we definitely could have done some stuff, but thats wouldve-shouldve-couldve at this point.
Only the Patriots, winners of seven straight, and the Saints, winners of six straight, have longer current winning streaks than the Eagles, who on Sunday will be shooting for their first four-game winning streak since Donovan McNabb was their quarterback.
Nobody wants to be the hottest team not to reach the playoffs, but thats all the Eagles have left to aspire to.
If we would have gotten into the playoffs, I feel we would have definitely done some damage, Vick said. Its unfortunate that we didnt, and thats the game of football. If you make some mistakes early and you get behind in the count in the win-loss column, you sell yourself short in the end and youre in the position that we are in.
Were just happy that we are finishing strong. We have one more game to play and were going to give it everything weve got.
Cullen Jenkins knows as well as anybody what can happen when a team thats struggled all year gets hot in December. He was with the Packers last year when they sputtered along at a 6-5 start before getting hot late and eventually winning the Super Bowl as a road, wild-card team.
We feel like were a dangerous team, Jenkins said. Heck, I know from last year, all youve got to do is get on a roll. You get that confidence, you get that momentum going, and you can make a lot of things happen.
Unfortunately for us, we got on our roll a little bit too late, but there are still a lot of positives that can come out of it. We approached (the Dallas game) with that in mind, and weve got to approach next week and put it in mind that we want to close out the season strong, finish up and go .500.
We are playing to build up confidence. Confidence can be huge as far as carrying it into the last game and next year into the off-season. We just have to stay on.
The Eagles will finish the season against a Redskins team that opened the season 3-1 but has lost seven of nine since to fall to 5-10, clinching last place in the NFC East.
We're playing good football right now, Reid said. I'm not sure were a team that people necessarily wanted to see get into the playoffs. Were playing that type of football. But we're not in the playoffs, so we want to finish the season off strong. That's what we're going to do.
I think all the guys have confidence in each other, and theyre playing good football. I think, as coaches and players, guys are very, very united right now, so there's a lot of energy on this football team. The reality is we didn't make the playoffs, but the other part of that reality is that we play the Washington Redskins next week and so we're going to put our hearts out there.
E-mail Reuben Frank at rfrank@comcastsportsnet.com.