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Wednesday, February 15, 2012

What do the Eagles and the Super Bowl Champions have in common?

Posted by Dan Cafiero.


The Eagles have been defeated in their home opener by the champs in 3 straight seasons. 
Who will win the lottery when the NFL releases the 2012-2013 regular season schedules? What lottery? Flying to Philadelphia to play the Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field in their home opener. 

On Sunday, September 20th, 2009, the New Orleans Saints made their way to Philadelphia to play the Eagles. The eagles were coming off a big 38-10 win against the Carolina Panthers in their season opener in Carolina and hoped to do the same in their home opener. Unfortunately for them, Drew Brees was too much to handle, as they were defeated 48-22. The Eagles went on to finish the season 11-5 and the Saints won the NFC South, finishing 13-3. However, the Eagles lost to the Cowboys in the NFC Wild Card game and the Saints eventually beat the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLIV. There was nothing unusual about the 2009 season. 

Heading into the 2010 season, Kevin Kolb was slated to be the starting quarterback for the Eagles with Donovan McNabb departing. In their home opener on September 12th, 2010, Kevin Kolb left the game with a concussion and entered Michael Vick. The newly acquired QB came in and performed tremendously, doing everything he could to make a comeback against the Packers but it wasn’t enough. Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers defeated the Eagles 27-20. Philadelphia would again make the playoffs, but as they did in 2009, lose in the Wild card game to the same Packers they lost to in week 1. Oddly enough, Green Bay won Super Bowl XLV. 

After an outstanding 2010 season, there was tremendous hype surrounding Michael Vick and the Eagles. They were the busiest team in the offseason, adding a pair of Pro Bowl corners Nnamdi Asomugha and Dominique Rodgers- Cromartie along with Vince Young, the Tennessee Titans’ first round pick in 2006. Vince Young came out and called the 2011 Eagles a “dream team”. The only thing they dreamed of during the season was getting a win. After a somewhat easy victory in week 1 against the St. Louis Rams, they dropped their home opener for the 3rd straight season to the New York Giants, which nobody expected.  Another thing nobody expected was that the Giants would go on to beat the Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI. Yes that is correct, for the third consecutive season, the Eagles have lost their home opener to the Super Bowl Champions. 

You can lift weights all you want in the offseason, you can work as hard as you want in training camp and you can go undefeated in the regular season but you’re only going to lift the Lombardi Trophy if you beat the Eagles in their home opener. Who will it be in 2012..?

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