This is familiar November territory for them. A year ago, they were a seemingly dead-in-the-water 5-5-1 after a home loss to the Giants, an ugly, 13-13 overtime tie with the Bengals and a 29-point road loss to the Ravens that saw a desperate Reid bench his five-time Pro Bowl quarterback, Donovan McNabb, who was playing lousy at the time.

But just as we all were getting ready to shovel dirt on them, they made a Lazarus-like resurrection, won four of their last five games and not only made the playoffs, but advanced to the NFC Championship Game for the fifth time in 8 years.

Reid's act of desperation turned out to be a stroke of genius. McNabb responded to getting benched by throwing nine touchdown passes and just one interception and completing 64.3 percent of his passes down the homestretch.

Two years before that, a similar near-death's-door scenario. After a 4-1 start, they dropped five of their next six, including a 24-point thumping from Peyton Manning and the Colts. Lost McNabb to a season-ending ACL injury the week before the Colts debacle.

Found themselves on life support at 5-6. Trailed the NFC East-leading Giants by two games and still had to play all three of their division foes, all on the road in successive weeks.

Try telling me you had a good feeling about them that November. Try telling me you knew they would jump on Jeff Garcia's back and go 5-0 and not only make the playoffs, but win the division. In that context, their current situation doesn't appear all that hopeless. They're just one game behind the schizophrenic Cowboys in the NFC East, and are tied for the wild-card spot with the 5-4 Giants, Packers and Falcons.

Reid's Eagles historically have been strong finishers. Since 2000, they are 32-13 in their final five games. They have finished either 5-0 or 4-1 in six of the last nine seasons. And one of the 3 years they didn't was their Super Bowl season, when Reid rested his starters in the final two regular-season games after clinching homefield advantage in the playoffs.

Now that I've given you hope, permit me to smash it to smithereens. This isn't 2006 or 2008. Looking at the '09 Eagles right here, right now, I don't think they are going to make the playoffs.

Why? Glad you asked. Three reasons, and none of them has to do with Reid's play-calling or clock management:

The defense

 

The play of the defense was the biggest reason for last season's turnaround. They allowed just 12 points per game in the final five games.

They gave up three touchdown passes to the Cardinals' Kurt Warner in that 28-point Thanksgiving night win, then allowed just one more touchdown pass the rest of the season. They held their final five opponents to a .509 completion percentage, 5.27 yards per attempt and a 30.6 third-down success rate.

The Eagles finished the '08 season as one of the league's top defenses. But injuries and the suspension of valuable nickel back Joselio Hanson have taken their toll.

With weakside linebacker Akeem Jordan out with a knee injury Sunday at San Diego, defensive coordinator Sean McDermott had to slide his middle linebacker, Will Witherspoon, to Jordan's spot, move strongside linebacker Chris Gocong into the middle, where he hadn't played since high school, and start rookie seventh-rounder Moise Fokou on the strong side.

Until a week-and-a-half ago, the Eagles had one of the deepest groups of cornerbacks in the league. Then Hanson got suspended for violating the league's steroid policy and the team's other top backup, Ellis Hobbs, suffered a season-ending neck injury.

Then, on Sunday, the killer. Starting right corner Sheldon Brown, who hasn't missed a game since the Eagles drafted him in 2002, suffered a hamstring injury that likely will sideline him for at least one game and probably more. With Hanson and Hobbs out, the next man up to replace Brown is Dimitri Patterson, who has played in just 27 games in three seasons, mostly as a special-teamer. The third corner will be Ramzee Robinson, who was out of a job until the Eagles signed him last week.

"I can't focus on [who isn't out there] right now," McDermott said. "I've got to focus on the guys that are on the field and our ability to stop an offense. That's where my focus is right now.''