In what can best be described as their 2011 NFL betting lines biggest win of the season, the Philadelphia Eagles shocked the New York Giants last night with a 17 – 10 victory. Currently sitting at four wins and six losses on the season, the Eagles find themselves in an interesting position heading into week 12 of the season, on the outside looking in. If you had told anyone at the start of the year, that the Eagles would be 10th in the NFC, most price per head handicappers would have laughed at you. With five weeks left in the season, can the dream team eagles climb back into the playoff hunt? If the playoffs were to start today, the Philadelphia Eagles would not make the playoffs. As we noted earlier, the Eagles are in 10th place, after struggling to find consistency during the first half of the 2011 season. Even if the Eagles, now led by Vince Young, were to finish the season on a five game winning streak, to go 10 and six, they would still need five other NFL teams to all lose out. The chances of everything going right are as likely as the NBA coming back this season, possible but slim chances. Now, on paper, the Eagles can be agreed upon by many, as the biggest disappointment of the 2011 season. While teams such as the Cincinnati Bengals and San Francisco 49ers are shocking the league with their strong play, the Eagles have surprised the rest of the league by being terrible. In fact, the Eagles players seem to be the only ones buying the belief that they can still make the playoffs. This season, has taken a toll on the Eagles fan base, as they went from predicting the number of championship rings this team would win over the next couple of years, to hoping they win at least one game. Realistically, the Eagles need to win out to even have a hope at reaching the sixth and final playoff spot in the NFC. However, as we have seen far too many times through the first 10 games of the Eagles season, the team will look amazing one week and crumble the next. According to bookie software used to calculate wins, the Eagles odds of finishing with a winning record let alone making the playoffs are very low. Philadelphia has an intriguing remaining five weeks of the season, as they play New England in week 12, followed by games against Seattle and Miami, before welcoming Dallas, and finishing the season against the Washington Redskins. The Eagles could get lucky next week, as New England will be playing on short rest. However, Tom Brady and Wes Welker have been decimating defensive secondaries all season. For this reason, the idea that New England will lose to Philadelphia out of fatigue seems far fetched at best. We don’t think Philadelphia will make the playoffs this year.
