After an easy 41 to 14 victory over Tampa Bay at Veterans Stadium, Philadelphia lost three in a row. All three were close which, to me, added to the misery. In Week 5 at home against the Houston Oilers, things turned around after the first quarter. Not counting punts, the Eagles nine ran offensive plays and fell behind 16 to 0. Houston blocked two punts from Eagle kicker John Teleschik. Houston scored a touchdown on the first block and a safety on the second. After the free kick, Oiler quarterback Cody Carlson burned the secondary with a 46 yard pass completion to Drew Hill. Carlson pushed the ball himself into the End Zone. As stated, the Houston Oilers led 16 to 0.
The Eagles started the second quarter with both barrels blazing-one on offense the other on defense. Randall Cunningham completed 24 of 38 passes for 289 yards and two touchdowns. Cunningham himself had a 30 yard touchdown run. Keith Byers ran for 82 yards. The other Keith, that is, Jackson caught eight passes for 76 yards. Clyde Simmons got a safety tackling a Houston runner midway in the fourth quarter.
Houston scored a touchdown in the last quarter with a technique I really do not like. When teams get far ahead in the fourth quarter, they often use a prevent defense. The Philadelphia Eagles cut off the sidelines and long routes. They left the short runs open the in the middle. The offense gain yards and some players role up great numbers. This also burns time the off the clock, which is what the Eagles wanted. The final score was 32 to 23.
1988 was the first time in seven years, 1981, that Philadelphia:
--had a winning season, 10-6,
--appeared on national television and
--made the playoffs
Philadelphia Eagles in 1988
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74_75_78_79_
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Re: Philadelphia Eagles in 1988
1988 is the most intriguing of the three-straight Buddy Ryan HC'd playoff teams! This is due to the new-and-exciting-ness of it being the Eagles' first playoff berth since 1981 along with it being their first division title since the very Super Bowl season prior to that. And last, but not least...the turbulent rollercoaster/comeback dynamic of that very campaign - ending with all eyes on both Texas Stadium and the Meadowlands simultaneously for that Wk#16, 1PM EST, timeslot!
Coming off a promising 7-8 campaign the year prior in which three of those defeats actually were their three scab games, things start off hot in that opener. Yes it was just Tampa Bay, but beating them the way they did is what a good team is supposed to do to a bad team. But then those three close losses! An AFC-champ-to-be, Gibbs' defending-SB-Champs, and a return-playoff-participant-to-be...but still. Next up, Week #5, the scoreboard on the TV indeed read, 'Oilers 16, Eagles 0'. "That coach is going to get fired", my Dad said as we were leaving the front door for he to give me driving lessons. But, as already described, the Eagles found a way to win this time instead of the other way around. And vs a team that was as well playoff-bound!
And then Randall Cunningham's "coming-out" party on MNF vs those Giants! The first of numerous meetings ahead which would prove that 'Buddy Ball' would have Tuna's # for the remainder of that brief era in Philly. It was the night of my grandfather's viewing for he passed the previous Friday. The funeral was the next day and afterward, all of us at my grandmother's, my uncle and I were talking of last night's game. He opined that he didn't think the Eagles were really that good a team. Wide-eyed, young me disagreed but considering what would transpire the following month (and, perhaps, in each of the next three post-seasons), there was some truth to it. But, either way, a few more letdowns to get past in this '88 campaign en route to that division title.
The first one of those being Week #7 at the Dawg Pound! Eagles, and Randall, get pummeled back-to-earth by Schottenheimer's blue-collar Browns who were also 3-3 going in, but still would end up making the playoffs. Don Strock, in for Bernie, was under center for them! An old-fashioned, 19-3, butt-whooping it was!
And then the following week back at the Vet vs a now-bad Dallas team, they were down 20-0 in the 2nd Q! But as we all know, Eagles would post another of what would be numerous exciting comebacks to come! But yet another letdown the following week! Not only allowing another bad team to play them close at home, but not finishing the job vs Chris Miller's 1-7 Falcons. And back below-500 they went at 4-5! Yet another game at the Vet for Wk#10 against the 7-2 playoff-bound Rams! And the Birds pull back up to even with a big 30-24 win! Lose to Falcons but beat the Rams??
And now off to Pittsburgh vs a 2-8 Steeler team in the sheer (not counting '69) nadir of the Chuck Noll Era! 'Hot seat'-talk was already going on about Noll. But so was the case with Buddy Ryan despite being 5-5 and in just his third year! Game announced by Tim Ryan and Dan Jiggetts, Norman Braman was himself asked pregame about a "resurrected" rumor of talks between he and Jimmy Johnson (who still was coaching 'the U', Braman lived in Miami; both were friends). Norman's response, in addition to denying the rumor, was that he last saw Jimmy during the Tyson/Holmes fight back in '86 at a restaurant in Miami. Thing is...both didn't fight in '86 but the previous January, just ten months prior! Harry Gamble was then quoted as insisting that Buddy is in the third year of a 5-year contract and that's that.
Musburger, Cross, and Butkus were discussing the rumor as well at the half. Earlier during the telecast, Irv's 94-yard pick-6 at Pitt in '64 was mentioned and shown. Jiggetts, in fun spirit, said he thought he stepped out of bounds on the return, lol.
As for the game itself at Three Rivers (on the 20th-season anniversary of a somewhat-important-enough game in which both Buddy Ryan & Chuck Noll were on opposing sidelines), the Steelers threw everything they could at Philly; kitchen sink included! It was said before the game that the Steelers were now more-'relaxed' in that they were already out of contention; could let things simply all-hang-out. It also got on the Steelers' bulletin board, which Buddy Ryan actually denied, that the Eagles were seeing this as a "tune-up" game for the G-men at the Meadowlands the following week.
You really can say this for other close Eagle wins in '88, but I feel that this very contest was much more pivotal than I'm sure most fans of this campaign give credit. It was the one that’d bring the Birds back above-500 (for the first time since that opener) where they’d stay for the remainder. Had they went into the Meadowlands having dropped below-500 yet again, along with being two games back, they very well may have still been up for the game; but significantly less wind in their sails than otherwise, I'd think.
But being 6-5 after this one, and the Cardinals doing them a favor in the desert the following 4PM EST contest by dropping the Giants to just a ONE-game lead? Yes, Eagles much more FIRED-up going into the Meadolands in such a case instead! They smelled blood! Most historic-eyes on this '88 Eagles squad will look to other games instead, but this Phi@Pit game to me is an underrated historic game; and "underrated" because it simply matched a 5-5 team vs a 2-8 team. But a real competitive game just the same and worth seeing if you haven't already; and worth seeing again if you already have seen it.
Steelers sure didn't play like a 2-8 team though some over-aggressive plays on D led to some penalties that proved to end up being costly. They easily could have won! Many future-stars of the Cowher-'90s budding like Lloyd and Woodson along with Nickerson and Everett who’d eventually depart. Though not ending up a big star, rookie Aaron Jones (who, yes, made one of those costly penalties) showed some "refuse-to-lose"-fight, swagger, and promise just as a certain defensive coach of his did as a rookie nineteen seasons earlier.
And Merril Hoge plowing on like that very RB who every defender would rather NOT have to play against! Jiggetts kept mispronouncing his name - pronouncing it the same (correct) way as he would Terry Hoage's - saying he'll end up getting it right. Not a huge star himself, Terry was a tough player for Buddy. So was Mike Reichenbach whom Buddy declared could play for him as long as he's the coach. Players with much heart on both teams!
In the end, the Eagles were just able to avert yet another letdown! Late in the 4th, Cris Carter caught a long pass from Randall in the red zone at Lupe Sanchez's expense (though he did slip) setting up a FG to go up, 27-26. On the Steelers' next - and very final - possession, Brister was able to drive them to a 57-yard FG-attempt by Gary Anderson which wasn't too undoable for him. Steelers may have been able to get deeper into range, but the offensive players were taking too long lining back up during the drive; and Bubby's frustration was sure-a-showing! Anderson's FG got blocked, and Eagles escape the bruising 'Burgh with a 'W'! Though in defeat, the Steelers sure looked like a team who would go to on win three of their final five (including a surprise Sunday Nighter in the 'House of Pain') and who'd return to the playoffs for one final time in the Noll Era the following year!
As already mentioned, the 6-4 Cards won at home over the 7-3 Giants for the late game (both now at 7-4) which placed the Eagles now just one game out of first in the division! And Chicago helped as well in their own early game at RFK. They pound Washington, dropping them to 6-5 with the Eagles! The perfect set-up was made for 'Miracle at the Meadowlands II' the following Sunday! And it IS the real MM2 contrary to some other beliefs that...2010 was?? Why it's forgotten in this regard, and by enough Eagle-fans mind you, is a surprise. After all, it WAS on the ten-year-and-one-day anniversary of!
And, of course, we know how that turned out! Eagles/Giants/Cardinals now all tied for first at 7-5! And for Week #13...Cards at Eagles! And no letdown! Eagles win, 31-21! Cliff Stoudt in for Lomax certainly helped. I remember Buddy after the game saying that he was going to have a bourbon tonight (I think that's the drink), and watch the Saints beat the Giants (so they can then be a FULL-game up in the East). So much for that! Sir Lawrence of the Meadowlands' Tour De Force game at the Superdome! #56 excelled through a serious shoulder injury! Giants win thus staying right there with the very team who swept them!
The now-struggling 6-7 Redskins come to the Vet the following week and spoil things in a close 20-19 win. No real surprise. Gibbs usually bested Buddy. Meanwhile, Giants clobber the falling Cards, 44-7, and are now a game up! Eagles then beat the Cards themselves the following Saturday, but was not at all easy. Watching that game was the first time I heard of Jay Novacek. The G-men win the following day anyway vs Chiefs thus setting up a double-event to be seen in a sports bar - two screens, side by side - the following, final Sunday...
Eagles must beat Cowboys in Big D to clinch the playoffs-period. But in order to win the NFC East, they would need the 8-7 Jets to beat the Giants in that 'Battle of NY' at the Meadowlands! They still can get in with a loss, but would then need some serious help. Eagles end up winning big nonetheless, Buddy getting the Gatorade, and no one knowing yet that it'd sadly be Tom Landry's very last game. In their locker room, all Eagle-eyes on the TV screen airing you-know-what! 'Ken O'Brien-to-Al Toon' already took place the moment the Eagles victory was official, when all of them were still on the field. Now in their locker room, they just simply had to see the Jets' D hold on which they, indeed, did! And the NFC East was now officially theirs!
Giants would now need 10-5 San Fran, who already wrapped-up their own division (and now 2nd-seed), to unnecessarily beat the 9-6 Rams who NEEDED to win in the Sunday Nighter. But no San Fran playing spoiler. Was not to be. And Tuna & Co would be home for the playoffs for the second-straight year. This because the Birds swept them for the tiebreaker along with Robinson's Rams winning their own eventual tiebreaker vs the G-men at the Meadowlands back in Wk#4.
Much optimism in Philly for the following year, '89! The logic of 'the Fog' "robbing" them of a chance to come back and win in the 2nd-half (and maybe they "go all-the-way") added to these very high-hopes! I believe Playboy picked them to win the Super Bowl! They open things up at home in '89 by pounding last year's Knox-led AFC West champ, Seahawks, and then follow it up with perhaps the most-exciting cardiac-like comeback yet at RFK! 2-0 and they're carrying Buddy off the field! "Bring on the Forty Niners!" Real exciting!
But sometime right after that, during that campaign, the "thrill" ended up being gone; and it then should have been known that mere playoff-berths were all that'd ever happen. It either became known as early as the following two weeks - first the very Week #3 heartbreaker to Joe Cool followed immediately by da Bears beating them on MNF, 27-13. The "SB-bound" Eagles were now 2-2. I remember one of the kids in the dorms laughing making a comment, "Eagles have the same record as Pittsburgh now!"
Or maybe the four-game win-streak which followed, that included wins vs Giants and at Denver, made one say to hold the phone. But then it'd be they losing in an upset at gritty/respectable, but 2-6, San Diego which would follow with Washington coming to the Vet the following week. and getting their Week #2 revenge! Eagles now 6-4!
Or maybe it was another 4-game win-streak that would follow, one of those wins completing a 2nd-straight sweep over the G-men, that may have delayed such thoughts yet again. They and Giants tied at 10-4, Eagles just had to win-out and get themselves 2nd-seed! Win that divisional rounder which would be at home this time, and it's 13-4 Eagles at Candlestick in a Week #3 rematch for the right to go to SBXXIV, representing the NFC, in New Orleans!! Nice-enough rationale to keep the "thrill" going, I'd think! Sounds good to me. They can still be a Super Bowl team. 12-4 and 2nd-seed will make things right going in.
But then they lose at NO on the penultimate MNF game and the division basically lost right there and then! Birds did win the finale vs Cards to finish at 11-5, but though Tuna & Co still would have made the playoffs with a loss, the Giants weren't going down in the finale this time! They wanted the division and they GOT it, burying Bo Jackson and the Raiders who NEEDED to win (along with a Colts-loss that did happen) just to get into the playoffs-period!
And though it was a one-game improvement from '88 (11-5 instead of 10-6), it just didn't feel right they being a wild card team! With all the off-season excitement and they sweeping the Giants again and having such an opportunity in the end to finish 2nd-seed and now this?? A wild card?? Yes, the "thrill" was gone as further solidified by Rams coming into the Vet and convincingly eliminating them.
And then the 0-2, 1-3, and 2-4 starts in '90, (yes, winning their next five, but) losing back-to-back roadies at Buffalo and then Miami, dropping them to 7-6 (Buddy was quoted as saying beforehand, paraphrasing, "I'm not worried about them AFC teams"), etc.
With Randall under no true QB-coaching despite being a highlight-reel-God, no real offense-coordination in-general, no real main-purpose run-game though Byars was a true-blue Swiss Army Knife/a REAL football player, weaknesses in the secondary Eric Allen notwithstanding...it should have sadly been known even as early as '88 itself that they weren't "really that good a team".
But they, at the very least, were a good team! But even-more-so a team that was FUN to WATCH! Suspense/excitement-wise, I place them with the '76 Cardinals, '80 Browns, any 'Air Coryell' Charger team to name just a few! One of my favorite single-season teams! Exciting to watch, and not just on ONE side of the ball! And even Eagles-haters loved a Buddy Ryan press conference! The antithesis of "boring" this immediate Eagles era was despite lack-of-playoff-success! And in '88, the sky simply felt like the limit with children and even adults alike at that immediate moment in time. The "first" is always the best, some say.
Though no more "equipped" to win a SB than the two following installments, you get a sense that '88 was Buddy & Co's best shot to win-it-all if only due to no one yet being "ready" for these "new guys" with their swagger as the underdogs, not "knowing" that they were "supposed" to lose! Likely-enough, maybe the Bears still prevent any Philly comeback without "the Fog" rolling in. Ditka would end up going unbeaten as a HC over Buddy, head-to-head. And if Eagles do advance, perhaps the NFCC isn't a "preview" of the following year's Wk#3 Classic. But, instead, San Fran simply steamrolling over them as they actually did to the Bears at arctic Soldier Field. But one can still get that optimistic sense for that particular team's chances going into that very post-season.
Finishing 3-6 in a strike-shortened year, and their years of contention still being fresh, should have still given them at least one MNF game in '83, I'd like to think! They finish respectfully in '84 at 6-9-1, almost beating Miami, playing SF not too bad either, but they do beat the Giants, Redskins, and 9-7 Pats. Yet all Sundays slated for the following year. And in 1985 itself, they start off 6-5 and their new HC in '86 was DC for the heralded World Champ Bears! And they were still strictly Sundays as well in Buddy's first year! Making that Week#2 'Buddy-vs-Ditka' showdown a Monday Nighter would have been a great idea!
So what did the League have against the not-bad Eagles on prime time??
Coming off a promising 7-8 campaign the year prior in which three of those defeats actually were their three scab games, things start off hot in that opener. Yes it was just Tampa Bay, but beating them the way they did is what a good team is supposed to do to a bad team. But then those three close losses! An AFC-champ-to-be, Gibbs' defending-SB-Champs, and a return-playoff-participant-to-be...but still. Next up, Week #5, the scoreboard on the TV indeed read, 'Oilers 16, Eagles 0'. "That coach is going to get fired", my Dad said as we were leaving the front door for he to give me driving lessons. But, as already described, the Eagles found a way to win this time instead of the other way around. And vs a team that was as well playoff-bound!
And then Randall Cunningham's "coming-out" party on MNF vs those Giants! The first of numerous meetings ahead which would prove that 'Buddy Ball' would have Tuna's # for the remainder of that brief era in Philly. It was the night of my grandfather's viewing for he passed the previous Friday. The funeral was the next day and afterward, all of us at my grandmother's, my uncle and I were talking of last night's game. He opined that he didn't think the Eagles were really that good a team. Wide-eyed, young me disagreed but considering what would transpire the following month (and, perhaps, in each of the next three post-seasons), there was some truth to it. But, either way, a few more letdowns to get past in this '88 campaign en route to that division title.
The first one of those being Week #7 at the Dawg Pound! Eagles, and Randall, get pummeled back-to-earth by Schottenheimer's blue-collar Browns who were also 3-3 going in, but still would end up making the playoffs. Don Strock, in for Bernie, was under center for them! An old-fashioned, 19-3, butt-whooping it was!
And then the following week back at the Vet vs a now-bad Dallas team, they were down 20-0 in the 2nd Q! But as we all know, Eagles would post another of what would be numerous exciting comebacks to come! But yet another letdown the following week! Not only allowing another bad team to play them close at home, but not finishing the job vs Chris Miller's 1-7 Falcons. And back below-500 they went at 4-5! Yet another game at the Vet for Wk#10 against the 7-2 playoff-bound Rams! And the Birds pull back up to even with a big 30-24 win! Lose to Falcons but beat the Rams??
And now off to Pittsburgh vs a 2-8 Steeler team in the sheer (not counting '69) nadir of the Chuck Noll Era! 'Hot seat'-talk was already going on about Noll. But so was the case with Buddy Ryan despite being 5-5 and in just his third year! Game announced by Tim Ryan and Dan Jiggetts, Norman Braman was himself asked pregame about a "resurrected" rumor of talks between he and Jimmy Johnson (who still was coaching 'the U', Braman lived in Miami; both were friends). Norman's response, in addition to denying the rumor, was that he last saw Jimmy during the Tyson/Holmes fight back in '86 at a restaurant in Miami. Thing is...both didn't fight in '86 but the previous January, just ten months prior! Harry Gamble was then quoted as insisting that Buddy is in the third year of a 5-year contract and that's that.
Musburger, Cross, and Butkus were discussing the rumor as well at the half. Earlier during the telecast, Irv's 94-yard pick-6 at Pitt in '64 was mentioned and shown. Jiggetts, in fun spirit, said he thought he stepped out of bounds on the return, lol.
As for the game itself at Three Rivers (on the 20th-season anniversary of a somewhat-important-enough game in which both Buddy Ryan & Chuck Noll were on opposing sidelines), the Steelers threw everything they could at Philly; kitchen sink included! It was said before the game that the Steelers were now more-'relaxed' in that they were already out of contention; could let things simply all-hang-out. It also got on the Steelers' bulletin board, which Buddy Ryan actually denied, that the Eagles were seeing this as a "tune-up" game for the G-men at the Meadowlands the following week.
You really can say this for other close Eagle wins in '88, but I feel that this very contest was much more pivotal than I'm sure most fans of this campaign give credit. It was the one that’d bring the Birds back above-500 (for the first time since that opener) where they’d stay for the remainder. Had they went into the Meadowlands having dropped below-500 yet again, along with being two games back, they very well may have still been up for the game; but significantly less wind in their sails than otherwise, I'd think.
But being 6-5 after this one, and the Cardinals doing them a favor in the desert the following 4PM EST contest by dropping the Giants to just a ONE-game lead? Yes, Eagles much more FIRED-up going into the Meadolands in such a case instead! They smelled blood! Most historic-eyes on this '88 Eagles squad will look to other games instead, but this Phi@Pit game to me is an underrated historic game; and "underrated" because it simply matched a 5-5 team vs a 2-8 team. But a real competitive game just the same and worth seeing if you haven't already; and worth seeing again if you already have seen it.
Steelers sure didn't play like a 2-8 team though some over-aggressive plays on D led to some penalties that proved to end up being costly. They easily could have won! Many future-stars of the Cowher-'90s budding like Lloyd and Woodson along with Nickerson and Everett who’d eventually depart. Though not ending up a big star, rookie Aaron Jones (who, yes, made one of those costly penalties) showed some "refuse-to-lose"-fight, swagger, and promise just as a certain defensive coach of his did as a rookie nineteen seasons earlier.
And Merril Hoge plowing on like that very RB who every defender would rather NOT have to play against! Jiggetts kept mispronouncing his name - pronouncing it the same (correct) way as he would Terry Hoage's - saying he'll end up getting it right. Not a huge star himself, Terry was a tough player for Buddy. So was Mike Reichenbach whom Buddy declared could play for him as long as he's the coach. Players with much heart on both teams!
In the end, the Eagles were just able to avert yet another letdown! Late in the 4th, Cris Carter caught a long pass from Randall in the red zone at Lupe Sanchez's expense (though he did slip) setting up a FG to go up, 27-26. On the Steelers' next - and very final - possession, Brister was able to drive them to a 57-yard FG-attempt by Gary Anderson which wasn't too undoable for him. Steelers may have been able to get deeper into range, but the offensive players were taking too long lining back up during the drive; and Bubby's frustration was sure-a-showing! Anderson's FG got blocked, and Eagles escape the bruising 'Burgh with a 'W'! Though in defeat, the Steelers sure looked like a team who would go to on win three of their final five (including a surprise Sunday Nighter in the 'House of Pain') and who'd return to the playoffs for one final time in the Noll Era the following year!
As already mentioned, the 6-4 Cards won at home over the 7-3 Giants for the late game (both now at 7-4) which placed the Eagles now just one game out of first in the division! And Chicago helped as well in their own early game at RFK. They pound Washington, dropping them to 6-5 with the Eagles! The perfect set-up was made for 'Miracle at the Meadowlands II' the following Sunday! And it IS the real MM2 contrary to some other beliefs that...2010 was?? Why it's forgotten in this regard, and by enough Eagle-fans mind you, is a surprise. After all, it WAS on the ten-year-and-one-day anniversary of!
And, of course, we know how that turned out! Eagles/Giants/Cardinals now all tied for first at 7-5! And for Week #13...Cards at Eagles! And no letdown! Eagles win, 31-21! Cliff Stoudt in for Lomax certainly helped. I remember Buddy after the game saying that he was going to have a bourbon tonight (I think that's the drink), and watch the Saints beat the Giants (so they can then be a FULL-game up in the East). So much for that! Sir Lawrence of the Meadowlands' Tour De Force game at the Superdome! #56 excelled through a serious shoulder injury! Giants win thus staying right there with the very team who swept them!
The now-struggling 6-7 Redskins come to the Vet the following week and spoil things in a close 20-19 win. No real surprise. Gibbs usually bested Buddy. Meanwhile, Giants clobber the falling Cards, 44-7, and are now a game up! Eagles then beat the Cards themselves the following Saturday, but was not at all easy. Watching that game was the first time I heard of Jay Novacek. The G-men win the following day anyway vs Chiefs thus setting up a double-event to be seen in a sports bar - two screens, side by side - the following, final Sunday...
Eagles must beat Cowboys in Big D to clinch the playoffs-period. But in order to win the NFC East, they would need the 8-7 Jets to beat the Giants in that 'Battle of NY' at the Meadowlands! They still can get in with a loss, but would then need some serious help. Eagles end up winning big nonetheless, Buddy getting the Gatorade, and no one knowing yet that it'd sadly be Tom Landry's very last game. In their locker room, all Eagle-eyes on the TV screen airing you-know-what! 'Ken O'Brien-to-Al Toon' already took place the moment the Eagles victory was official, when all of them were still on the field. Now in their locker room, they just simply had to see the Jets' D hold on which they, indeed, did! And the NFC East was now officially theirs!
Giants would now need 10-5 San Fran, who already wrapped-up their own division (and now 2nd-seed), to unnecessarily beat the 9-6 Rams who NEEDED to win in the Sunday Nighter. But no San Fran playing spoiler. Was not to be. And Tuna & Co would be home for the playoffs for the second-straight year. This because the Birds swept them for the tiebreaker along with Robinson's Rams winning their own eventual tiebreaker vs the G-men at the Meadowlands back in Wk#4.
Much optimism in Philly for the following year, '89! The logic of 'the Fog' "robbing" them of a chance to come back and win in the 2nd-half (and maybe they "go all-the-way") added to these very high-hopes! I believe Playboy picked them to win the Super Bowl! They open things up at home in '89 by pounding last year's Knox-led AFC West champ, Seahawks, and then follow it up with perhaps the most-exciting cardiac-like comeback yet at RFK! 2-0 and they're carrying Buddy off the field! "Bring on the Forty Niners!" Real exciting!
But sometime right after that, during that campaign, the "thrill" ended up being gone; and it then should have been known that mere playoff-berths were all that'd ever happen. It either became known as early as the following two weeks - first the very Week #3 heartbreaker to Joe Cool followed immediately by da Bears beating them on MNF, 27-13. The "SB-bound" Eagles were now 2-2. I remember one of the kids in the dorms laughing making a comment, "Eagles have the same record as Pittsburgh now!"
Or maybe the four-game win-streak which followed, that included wins vs Giants and at Denver, made one say to hold the phone. But then it'd be they losing in an upset at gritty/respectable, but 2-6, San Diego which would follow with Washington coming to the Vet the following week. and getting their Week #2 revenge! Eagles now 6-4!
Or maybe it was another 4-game win-streak that would follow, one of those wins completing a 2nd-straight sweep over the G-men, that may have delayed such thoughts yet again. They and Giants tied at 10-4, Eagles just had to win-out and get themselves 2nd-seed! Win that divisional rounder which would be at home this time, and it's 13-4 Eagles at Candlestick in a Week #3 rematch for the right to go to SBXXIV, representing the NFC, in New Orleans!! Nice-enough rationale to keep the "thrill" going, I'd think! Sounds good to me. They can still be a Super Bowl team. 12-4 and 2nd-seed will make things right going in.
But then they lose at NO on the penultimate MNF game and the division basically lost right there and then! Birds did win the finale vs Cards to finish at 11-5, but though Tuna & Co still would have made the playoffs with a loss, the Giants weren't going down in the finale this time! They wanted the division and they GOT it, burying Bo Jackson and the Raiders who NEEDED to win (along with a Colts-loss that did happen) just to get into the playoffs-period!
And though it was a one-game improvement from '88 (11-5 instead of 10-6), it just didn't feel right they being a wild card team! With all the off-season excitement and they sweeping the Giants again and having such an opportunity in the end to finish 2nd-seed and now this?? A wild card?? Yes, the "thrill" was gone as further solidified by Rams coming into the Vet and convincingly eliminating them.
And then the 0-2, 1-3, and 2-4 starts in '90, (yes, winning their next five, but) losing back-to-back roadies at Buffalo and then Miami, dropping them to 7-6 (Buddy was quoted as saying beforehand, paraphrasing, "I'm not worried about them AFC teams"), etc.
With Randall under no true QB-coaching despite being a highlight-reel-God, no real offense-coordination in-general, no real main-purpose run-game though Byars was a true-blue Swiss Army Knife/a REAL football player, weaknesses in the secondary Eric Allen notwithstanding...it should have sadly been known even as early as '88 itself that they weren't "really that good a team".
But they, at the very least, were a good team! But even-more-so a team that was FUN to WATCH! Suspense/excitement-wise, I place them with the '76 Cardinals, '80 Browns, any 'Air Coryell' Charger team to name just a few! One of my favorite single-season teams! Exciting to watch, and not just on ONE side of the ball! And even Eagles-haters loved a Buddy Ryan press conference! The antithesis of "boring" this immediate Eagles era was despite lack-of-playoff-success! And in '88, the sky simply felt like the limit with children and even adults alike at that immediate moment in time. The "first" is always the best, some say.
Though no more "equipped" to win a SB than the two following installments, you get a sense that '88 was Buddy & Co's best shot to win-it-all if only due to no one yet being "ready" for these "new guys" with their swagger as the underdogs, not "knowing" that they were "supposed" to lose! Likely-enough, maybe the Bears still prevent any Philly comeback without "the Fog" rolling in. Ditka would end up going unbeaten as a HC over Buddy, head-to-head. And if Eagles do advance, perhaps the NFCC isn't a "preview" of the following year's Wk#3 Classic. But, instead, San Fran simply steamrolling over them as they actually did to the Bears at arctic Soldier Field. But one can still get that optimistic sense for that particular team's chances going into that very post-season.
Correct me if wrong, but the only non-Sunday games the Eagles played from '82-thru-'87 was their sixth game of '82 at the Giants, and the opener the following year at San Fran. Each were Saturday games. I know that they were supposed to play at Pittsburgh on a Monday Night in '82. Not sure if there was another MNF game scheduled for them that year, but you'd think there would have been another considering they were in their fourth-straight playoff year the year prior with just two years removed from SBXV!LeonardRachiele wrote:1988 was the first time in seven years, 1981, that Philadelphia:
--had a winning season, 10-6,
--appeared on national television and
--made the playoffs
Finishing 3-6 in a strike-shortened year, and their years of contention still being fresh, should have still given them at least one MNF game in '83, I'd like to think! They finish respectfully in '84 at 6-9-1, almost beating Miami, playing SF not too bad either, but they do beat the Giants, Redskins, and 9-7 Pats. Yet all Sundays slated for the following year. And in 1985 itself, they start off 6-5 and their new HC in '86 was DC for the heralded World Champ Bears! And they were still strictly Sundays as well in Buddy's first year! Making that Week#2 'Buddy-vs-Ditka' showdown a Monday Nighter would have been a great idea!
So what did the League have against the not-bad Eagles on prime time??
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LeonardRachiele
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Re: Philadelphia Eagles in 1988
Reference to Jets Victory over the Giants. The Giants lost to the Jets on the final game of the season 27 to 21. That win, together with the Eagles defeating Dallas, gave Philadelphia a Wild Card place in the NFC East. The Giants were 12-4 one game better than the 11-5 Eagles. However, the Eagles defeated the Giants twice, 21 to 19 at the Vet and 23 to 17 in overtime in Jersey. This was dubbed Miracle at the Meadowlands II. t was the first time since 1980 that the Eagles defeated the Giants twice.
Re: Philadelphia Eagles in 1988
How did SF get the 2 seed over PHI?
Both were 10-6 and didn’t play each other that year
Imagine if SF had to go into the FOG and the Eagles instead got to host Minnesota
Both were 10-6 and didn’t play each other that year
Imagine if SF had to go into the FOG and the Eagles instead got to host Minnesota