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Eagles 4th in decade standings

    by Sheil Kapadia
    Published 

I used to run through this exercise every year, but Vince Verhei did the leg work this time around at Football Outsiders.

It's a look at overall record and playoff performance for NFL franchises over a given period of time.

In the past, I examined five-year windows. Verhei looks at the last decade, which just wrapped with the Saints' win over the Colts on Sunday night.

Here are some quick observations from his chart:

* The Eagles tied the Steelers for third in terms of average number of wins (10.4) from 2000 to 2009. The Colts were first (11.5) and the Patriots second (11.2).

* Before any of you yell at me... yes, I realize that Super Bowl Wins is the only category you're paying attention to. The Eagles ranked No. 1 in the NFC in average regular-season wins, but they were not one of the three teams in the conference to win a Super Bowl (Giants, Bucs and Saints).

* Amazingly, nine different NFC teams reached the Super Bowl from 2000-2009. The Giants were the only team to get there twice, winning one and losing the other.

* Quite a contrast in the AFC, where the Colts, Patriots and Steelers accounted for eight of the 10 Super Bowl appearances. The other two went to the Raiders and Ravens.

* The Eagles made the playoffs eight times - five as the NFC East champ and three as a wild card.

* Only the Colts (6) and Patriots (7) had more division titles than the Eagles. Only the Colts had more playoff appearances (9).

* The Eagles' 10 playoff wins tied for second with the Steelers, behind only the Patriots (14).

* Verhei used a category called Playoff Success, the total of first-round byes and playoff wins, to give credit to teams who were a top-two seed and automatically advanced to the divisional round. The Eagles were tied for second with the Steelers there, behind only the Patriots.

* Overall, it's hard to argue against the Patriots as the decade's top franchise. New England had the most Super Bowl wins, the most conference championships and the most playoff wins.

* But who's the NFC's top franchise of the decade? The Eagles had the most division titles, the most playoff appearances and the most playoff wins. But no Super Bowl victory. The Giants had two Super Bowl appearances and won one. They should get the nod, right? Or is there another team I'm missing? You tell me.