What the loss means for Eagles' playoff seeding
The loss to the Vikings locks the Eagles into the No. 3 seed in the NFC playoffs, meaning they'll host a game in the wild-card round.
What the loss means for Eagles' playoff seeding
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
There will be plenty of time to discuss just what happened to the Eagles in their 24-14 loss to the Vikings Tuesday night.
But, for now, let's break down what it means.
The Eagles are locked into the three-seed in the NFC. That means they'll host a game in the wild-card round. They can no longer earn a first-round bye. And also, they cannot lose any ground with a Week 17 loss.
In other words, don't expect any starters to play against the Cowboys.
As for who the Eagles will play in the first round, it comes down to three teams: the Giants, Packers or Bucs. One of those three will be traveling to the Linc.
The Packers are in with a win against the Bears. The Giants are in with a Packers loss and a win over the Redskins. And the Bucs are in with losses by both the Giants and Packers, plus a win against the Saints.
Game observations
* Michael Vick turned in his worst performance of the season. In the first half, he completed 13 of 21 passes for 128 yards, a touchdown and an interception. But his QB rating of 75.1 could have been even worse. The Vikings dropped at least two interceptions. Overall, he was 25 of 41 for 263 yards, one touchdown and one interception for a QB rating of 77.6. He averaged 6.4 yards per attempt.
* Vick turned it over a total of three times, fumbling twice. He's now been picked off in five straight games.
* The Eagles scored on one of seven first-half possessions. After Vick completed a 3-yard touchdown to Clay Harbor in the first quarter, here were the Eagles' next five possessions: punt, interception, punt, fumble, missed field goal. Antoine Winfield sacked Vick at the end of the first half and forced a fumble. He recovered it and went 45 yards to the end zone to tie the game at 7.
* Vick and DeSean Jackson could not get on the same page. He failed to complete a pass to Jackson the first six times he targeted him. Overall, Vick completed two passes for 32 yards to Jackson on 12 targets.
* We saw some new faces on defense for the Eagles. Rookie defensive tackle Jeff Owens saw his first action of the season before going down with a knee injury in the second half. Derrick Burgess was active for the first time. And Akeem Jordan saw his most significant playing time since being benched earlier in the season for Moise Fokou at the strong-side linebacker position. I have to re-watch the game, but I believe Jordan was used mostly in the Eagles' nickel package.
* Trevor Laws left the game in the third quarter with a shoulder injury, but later returned.
* The Eagles scored 14 points, the lowest total in any game Vick has started and finished this season. The previous low was 26.
* Cornerback Dimitri Patterson was beat for a 46-yard gain by Percy Harvin in the fourth. He was also whistled for a pair of penalties. Patterson was benched in the fourth as Joselio Hanson played right cornerback in the base defense, and Trevard Lindley came in to play outside in the nickel.
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Wow I hope all you negative crybabies are Giants fan lurking. You should be ashamed if your true Eagles fans. They will be just fine against GB.— tjr35- Do you think a Bill Belichik team loses this game? Ever? The Birds are a very entertaining, fun little device.But they aren't a serious football team right now.This is a well worn pattern.That being said,I expected 8 wins this year.
Been fun.— red rock - Karma!— phillysportguy
- 46 days until pitchers and catchers report. Oh, and it was a team loss, Vick stunk also.— peteinmich
- Get the loss out of the system. Sure they had a shot at the bye, but now they are locked into the #3 seed, so next week will basically be a 'bye' week. They could have done a better job in getting prepared as well for the game, but I'll buy that the bodies might not have been used to a Tues. game. Still should have won, but oh well. Hopefully this will get them used to a 'running' qb and they will be prepared to handle Rodgers when they face the Pack in two weeks. They will win a game in the playoffs, but with no running game, no O-line and no D, it will be a short post-season.— ESFjellin
Vick looked battered from the first play where he banged up his knee. Andy & Marty couldn't pick up the scheme and Vick's down field throws got more erratic as the night went on. If blitzing can be this effective against the Eagles, can they possibly get past even the first round of the playoffs?— Nezzen- "Michael Vick turned in his worst performance of the season"
No, Michael Vick's athletic ability couldn't bail out the poor coaching, game plan and play calling this week.
As long as Andy Reid is head coach, the Iggles will come up short.— txflyer - jumping off the bandwagon already? Well the good news is, for all your Kolb loving fans, Vick gets to rest and Kolb would probably start next week with the 2nd and 3rd strings. Give the team some rest. Next week game is meaningless but at least we get to see the BACK UP in action. and I bet if your gambling, Eagles will give Cowboys +7 on the spread. I'll probably take the Cowboys.— gauwow
- This team's D has bigger holes than Lady Gaga.— CiceroSpuriousDeodatus
- Why did it have to come to this?
- 2 years in a row we blow an opportunity to get a 1st round bye and the 2nd seed. Whenever the Eagles have a golden opportunity in front of them, those are the key games they seem to always lose! ARRRRRGGGGHHH!!!!!!!!!— nafselgae1
- "Michael Vick's athletic ability couldn't bail out the poor coaching, game plan and play calling this week.
As long as Andy Reid is head coach, the Iggles will come up short."
-txflyer
May be that truer words were never spoken.
— nafselgae1 - Some of the starters will rest, but others and key subs will have to play against the cowboys. Hopefully nobody will get hurt. I feel bad for Kolb, he will probably have Nick Cole at center and the only '1st string' oline will be Jean-Giles. I bet Reid is already watching film of the Packers and will let the waterboy draw up the game plan for the cowboys. it will be ugly. Maybe this will be best because now they won't be expected to do anything in the playoffs. The comeback and playoff clinch has gone to this young team's head.
- this is going to work out ok. game against the cowboys means nothing. sit everybody. start kolb, jerome harrison etc. we have a bye next week and then we'll get ready for the real games.— notch44
- Yes this was Vick's worst game of the year, but his second worst game was last week against the Giants for 3 quarters and change. Lost in the comeback miracle was the shabby play of Vick in that game. That's 2 games in a row where Vick was sub par and both games at a critical point of the season. His biggest plays last week were running plays where he picked up 30 something yards 2 different times. That tells me as playoff type football approaches and team start to adjust to Vick, he is less and less able to make enough good things happen to win big games. Vick is getting exposed— ericyshel
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