We finish up this summers Eagles Overrated-Underrated series with a look at some of the most underrated and overrated achievements and moments in franchise history.
What plays, games, moments or performances in Eagles history have been judged unfairly, too harshly or simply misunderstood?
Lets take a look.
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OverratedThe Fog Bowl
The Eagles didnt lose their 1988 playoff game to the Bears because of the fog that rolled in just before halftime. They lost because they had 11 drives inside the Bears 40-yard-line -- eight of them inside the Chicago 17-yard-line -- and didnt score a touchdown on any of them.
Fog? Forget the fog for a moment. The Eagles netted 430 yards of offense in that conference semifinal game at Soldier Field, but managed only 12 points. At the time, that was the fewest points in NFL postseason history by a team gaining 400 or more yards (and its still second-most). To this day, the Eagles are the only NFL team to net 400 yards of offense in a game and fail to score a touchdown.
Randall Cunningham passed for 407 yards against the Bears that day -- the most in NFL postseason history by a quarterback without throwing a touchdown. He threw three interceptions and failed to convert on a keeper on a 4th-and-goal from the one-foot line.
The Eagles also had two touchdowns nullified by penalties on fullback Anthony Toney, and Keith Jackson dropped a touchdown pass with no defender near him. The Eagles were penalized seven times for 60 yards, and five of the penalties were on the offense deep inside Bears territory.
In all, the Eagles had drives down to the 4-, 5-, 9-, 11-, 11-, 16-, 17-, 17-, 24-, 25- and 39-yard-lines without getting into the end zone.
Even after the fog wafted in behind the south end zone, the Eagles netted 174 yards and drove inside the Chicago 20-yard-line three times in the second half.
The fog didnt help. But its not the reason the Eagles lost.
Wilberts TD Run
From the moment Mark Eckel and I decided to write the book The 50 Greatest Plays in Eagles History until our most recent book signing just a few weeks ago, the one comment we got more than any other was this: Wilberts touchdown in the 1980 NFC Championship Game has to be No. 1, right?
Fair question. Heck, one book from the early 1990s listed Wilberts 42-yard TD at the Vet as the No. 4 play in NFL history.
Our book? We put Wilbert at No. 10 just in Eagles history.
What????? How could Wilbert Montgomerys iconic touchdown run against the Cowboys on the second play of the 1980 NFC title game at the Vet possibly be only the 10th-greatest play in Eagles history?
One forgotten reason. The Cowboys came back to tie the game.
Every Eagles fan who was around in 1980 remembers Wilberts touchdown run and how loud the Vet was when he scored. What everybody seems to have forgotten is that in the second quarter, the Cowboys tied the game on Tony Dorsetts three-yard touchdown run.
Yes, Wilberts historic touchdown run gave the Eagles the lead, but only temporarily. It wasnt until the third quarter, when Tony Franklin hit a short field goal and Leroy Harris scored from nine yards out, that the Eagles finally took the lead for good and clinched their first trip to the Super Bowl.
Montgomerys TD run is what everybody remembers, and it was certainly a riveting moment and a key play that helped the Eagles reach the Super Bowl. But it wasnt even the game-winner. It wasnt even the biggest play in the game.
The Body Bag Game
It ended almost comically with rookie returner Brian Mitchell -- a college quarterback at Louisiana Lafayette -- playing quarterback after injuries to Jeff Rutledge and Stan Humphries left the Redskins without a viable quarterback.
Rutledge and Humphries were among nine Redskins players the Eagles knocked out of the game on the way to a 28-14 win over Washington at the Vet in November of 1990.
Supposedly, during the final moments of the game, after yet another Redskins injury, an Eagle player yelled at a Redskin, Do you guys need any more body bags?
Hence, the game would forever be known as The Body Bag Game, and its emblematic of the Buddy Ryan Eagles, who would knock you out and then step on you and then laugh about it.
It seemed like they didnt want to play us anymore, Eagles defensive tackle Jerome Brown told reporters after the game.
But they did play again six weeks later. In a wild-card game at the Vet. And this time, the Redskins were ready.
Motivated by Ryans bluster and the Eagles taunts, the Skins hammered the Eagles 20-6 at the Vet, sacking Randall Cunningham five times, forcing three Eagles turnovers and shutting them out after the middle of the second quarter. That remains one of only nine NFL playoff games since 1950 in which the home team scored six or fewer points and lost by 14 or more points.
Typical Buddy Ryan. His teams would kick you and punch you and beat you and laugh at you. Until playoff time. Then they turned quiet and meek and rarely fought back.
Ryan was fired three days later.
UnderratedA.J. Feeleys 2002 Run
He won or helped win five games in a remarkable 29-day span, and to put A.J. Feeleys 2002 performance in perspective, hes won just three games in his nine other NFL seasons.
Feeley, who had been released and re-signed earlier in the season, was called on to quarterback the Eagles for a month in 2002 after Donovan McNabb and Koy Detmer both got hurt, McNabb with a broken ankle suffered in a win against the Cards at the Vet and Detmer with a dislocated elbow he suffered in a win over the 49ers at Candlestick a week later.
Feeley had never taken a meaningful snap as a pro -- and wasnt even a full-time starter in college, relegated to backing up Joey Harrington of all people for most of his career at Oregon.
But in those five games late in the 2002 season, despite playing with a receiving crew of Todd Pinkston, James Thrash, Antonio Freeman and Freddie Mitchell, Feeley completed 73 of 129 pass attempts for 861 yards, with six TDs, four interceptions and a 79.6 passer rating. His ability to keep the Eagles rolling after starting the season as the No. 3 quarterback was the only reason the Eagles were able to not only get to the playoffs but also get there as the No. 1 seed in the NFC.
Feeley took over for Detmer in the third quarter of that 49ers game and on the first meaningful pass of his NFL career threw a one-yard TD pass to Chad Lewis to give the Eagles a 35-10 lead on the way to a 38-17 win.
Feeley then led the Eagles to wins over the Rams, Seahawks in Seattle, Redskins and Cowboys in Dallas.
Feeley would have been 5-0 in his emergency stint, but David Akers missed a potential game-winning 35-yard field goal against the Giants, ending his streak of 50 consecutive makes from 35 yards and in. The Giants wound up winning in overtime, although the Eagles regained the No. 1 seed a day later when the Jets upset Brett Favre and the Packers.
In the years since, Feeley has bounced around from the Eagles to the Dolphins to the Chargers, back to the Eagles in 2006 and 2007, then to the Panthers and Rams. Hes 3-7 as a starter since 2002 with 19 TDs and 23 INTs.
Feeley has carved out a nice career for himself, and this fall will spend his 11th season in the NFL. He may never play another snap, but nine years ago, he was the key figure in one of the most surprising stretches in recent Eagles history.
Donovans Super Bowl
Anybody who thinks Donovan McNabb choked in the Super Bowl needs to sit down and watch the game again.
McNabbs performance in Super Bowl XXXIX wasnt as bad as you remember.
First of all, McNabb took an absolute beating that night in Jacksonville. The interior of the Eagles offensive line was mauled play after play by Tedy Bruschi, Richard Seymour and Vince Wilfork, and McNabb absorbed a number of brutal shots both before the whistle and after, in the pocket and out.
Yet McNabb stood tall and despite getting no help from his offensive line or running game (16 runs, 45 yards, 2.8 average), he passed for 357 yards with three touchdowns, two of them on absolutely spectacular throws.
McNabbs six-yard TD pass to L.J. Smith that gave the Eagles a 7-0 lead in the second quarter was fairly routine, but his 10-yarder to Brian Westbrook in the third quarter that tied the game at 14-14 was an absolute work of art. McNabb threw a missile that somehow wove its way through three defenders before finding Westbrook in the end zone. And his 30-yarder to Greg Lewis in the games final minutes might have been McNabbs finest pass as a pro -- an absolutely spectacular strike down the seam to a leaping Lewis.
McNabbs three TD passes in a Super Bowl are tied for sixth-most ever, and his 357 yards has been surpassed only by Kurt Warner (three times).
Now, McNabb did throw three interceptions, but in fairness, the third one was a desperation heave, coming with nine seconds on the clock and the Eagles at their own 5-yard line.
What about when he puked? Watch that series. McNabb is absolutely getting brutalized by Bruschi and Seymour snap after snap. Instead of being mocked for throwing up, McNabb should have been praised for showing great toughness and grit by staying in that game after taking the beating of his life when many lesser quarterbacks would have been carted off.
The most baffling thing about that Super Bowl is that McNabb is blamed for everything when nobody else on the team other than Terrell Owens did much of anything to help the Eagles cause.
Westbrook is never mocked for his mediocre rushing performance (15 carries for 44 yards). Brian Dawkins is never mocked for not making a single play in the biggest game of his life. Nobody ever brings up Jevon Kearses inability to bring any pressure on Tom Brady or the fact that the Patriots tailbacks ran for 113 clock-consuming yards against Darwin Walker and Corey Simon and the Eagles vaunted defensive interior.
Eli Manning put up 17 points in a Super Bowl against the Patriots and was hailed as a superhero. Donovan put up 21 points in a Super Bowl against the Patriots and was dismissed as a choker.
This wasnt a great performance by McNabb, but he was certainly not the biggest or the only reason the Eagles lost that day.
Reggies 1987 Season
Reggie White recorded 21 sacks in 1987, which is amazing enough. What makes it even more remarkable is that he did it in just 12 games.
This was one of the greatest seasons any NFL player has ever had, but because of the strike and because the Eagles didnt reach the playoffs, its been largely forgotten.
The 1987 season was interrupted for a month when the players went on strike in late September, two games into the season. One game was cancelled and three others were played with a hapless collection of replacement players before the strike was settled and games with the regular players resumed in late October.
As it is, Whites 21 sacks in 1987 still ranks third in NFL history, behind Michael Strahans 22 12 in 2001 and Mark Gastineaus 22 in 1984.
What if there was no strike? White averaged 1.75 sacks per game in the 12 games he played. At that rate, he would have had 28 sacks in a full season -- a record that never would have been approached. Even if he just had two sacks in those four games he didnt get to play in, White would still own the NFL single-season sack record.
Consider this: White averaged 1.75 sacks per game in 1987. Strahan averaged 1.4 sacks per game when he set the NFL record.
But theres one other way to look at it. What if White crossed the picket line and played in the strike games? A lot of NFL regulars did.
Hall of Famer Steve Largent crossed the picket line and had 15 catches for 261 yards in a replacement game against the Lions. Those stats still count. The official NFL record book lists Largents performance as the 10th-best in NFL history. One of the replacement players, Anthony Allen of the Redskins, caught seven passes for 255 yards in a replacement game against the Rams, and thats the No. 15 performance in NFL history.
What if White played in those replacement games? He would have been going up against offensive linemen who had retired years ago, fringe college players, young kids who couldnt make an NFL roster, bus drivers, plumbers. White was already dominating like nobody in history against the best players in football. If he played in those three strike games, realistically, he probably could have recorded six or seven sacks per game. Just imagine. Conservatively, if he had four sacks in each of the three replacement games, he would have had 33 sacks for the season.
But no Eagles players crossed the picket line, and White was limited to 12 games. And he did more in those 12 games than almost anybody in NFL history has done in a full season.
E-mail Reuben Frank at rfrank@comcastsportsnet.com
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