Eagles Eye Next Victim

Happy Thursday! You are running out of shopping days, but a few minutes procrastinating with your favorite newsletter won’t hurt.

We have Flyers and Sixers discussion in today’s send. But let’s start with those 12-2 Birds.

In the email today:

• 🦅 What They're Saying About Eagles/Commanders

• 🤮 All These Years Later, Patrick Kane Is Still Tormenting the Flyers

• 🙄 Sixers Injury Updates Keep Getting Weirder

  • 📆 This Day in Philly Sports History

  • 📊 Poll

  • 🔗 Links

  • 📺 Coming Up

The best Eagles coverage is always local, but it's helpful to get a national perspective as well.

Two years removed from a Super Bowl appearance and one year after a brutal collapse, the 2024 iteration of the Birds is once again an NFL juggernaut. Can they win their 11th straight game on Sunday against the Commanders?

Here's what they're saying about your Birds this week:

From CBS Sports: Commanders 21 - Eagles 20

"This is a big game in terms of the postseason. The Eagles are riding a 10-game winning steak, while the Commanders have won their last two. The Eagles are coming off a tough, physical game with the Steelers, which can wear a team down. Washington needs this game more, and it will play out that way."

From Sporting News: Eagles 28 - Commanders 20

"The Eagles still have a shot at the No. 1 seed, and the defense has quietly allowed less than 20 points in five of its past six games. Saquon Barkley had 146 yards and two TDs in the last meeting with the Commanders, but he's dealing with some soreness after the Week 15 matchup against Pittsburgh. Will Nick Sirianni lighten that workload ahead of the postseason? This is a possible first-round preview, albeit on the road for Philadelphia."

From Sports Illustrated: Eagles to cover the (-3.5 point) spread

"With the Lions suffering the amount of injuries they have, the Eagles may have surpassed them as the best team in the NFL. They have virtually no holes on their roster and have handled strong competition all season long.

"Meanwhile, I still have some concerns about the Commanders' offense. They were a top-five unit in the first half of the season but are now just 13th in EPA per play and 10th in success rate since Week 11, including a disappointing performance against the Saints last week. The issues could be caused by a regressing Jayden Daniels, opposing teams figuring out a rookie quarterback, Kliff Kingsbury's historical regression in the second half of the season, or a mixture of all four factors.

"The Eagles' defense, specifically their secondary, is going to prove to be too much for the Washington offense to handle. They dominated the Commanders early in the season, gaining 2.0 more yards per play, and I expect this game's final score to be even more lopsided."

From Pro Football Network: Eagles 27 - Commanders 20

"The last matchup between these two sides was fairly one-sided, even if the score difference was only eight points. However, that was a game on a short week for a rookie quarterback coming off a tough loss against a physical team. This game will have a different feel, with the Eagles coming off a game against the hard-hitting Steelers defense.

"The line here makes sense because Philadelphia is the better team, and Washington’s home-field advantage has not proven all that important in recent weeks. The Commanders have the better numbers offensively on the season, but the Eagles have been better as the season has progressed. Philadelphia’s defense now ranks second in the league and has proven itself against tough competition.

"While Washington has been the feel-good story of the season, its strength of victory (.280) is the lowest of any team currently in a playoff spot. It has not beaten a team with a winning record this season, and it is hard to see it beating an Eagles team that is on the march for the top seed in the NFC. Take Philadelphia laying the points here."

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The last Flyers Stanley Cup Finals appearance ended in disbelief and devastation.

It was shades of the Joe Carter home run that knocked the 1993 Phillies out of the World Series, except that this time it happened in Philadelphia.

Kane’s bad-angle goal began what has been a comic/tragic run of 14 seasons without so much as an Eastern Conference finals appearance. In eight of those campaigns, the Flyers missed the playoffs entirely.

Leighton finally hung up the goalie pads in 2019. He played for 21 professional teams in 18 seasons. “Journeyman” somehow doesn’t even tell the whole story.

Makes you wonder what happened to Kane, eh?

You have to be kidding. But no. Kane is still in the league, and he scored the game-winner for the Red Wings in what turned out to be a 6-4 final.

The most notable moment of the game for the Flyers came in the third period, when one of the officials signaled for a Red Wings penalty, then changed his mind. By that time, Flyers goalie Samuel Ersson had already gone to the bench.

Once Ersson realized that there was no Red Wings penalty, he scurried back to his goal…thereby leaving the Flyers with seven skaters. John Tortorella handled the officials’ slapstick moment with his trademark quiet dignity and grace.

Ultimately, the story of the game was that the Flyers turned up too late. Midway through the second period, the Flyers only had a handful of shots on goal.

They finished with 19. That’s rarely going to be good enough to win a road game against a team you beat less than a week prior.

Perhaps most distressingly, Matvei Michkov had another quiet night without a point. He did manage four shots.

The Flyers don’t have any time to dwell on this loss with the Los Angeles Kings coming to the Wells Fargo Center tonight.

Recently we’ve been lamenting that it gets tougher and tougher to make the Sixers’ injury woes interesting.

As the lost games by the team’s stars pile up, and as the Sixers remain out of the play-in places (much less the playoff places), what is there really to say?

Then, just as we’ve given up hope of having anything compelling to write on the subject, BANG.

What kind of medical word salad is that? The head coach, feeling compelled to say something about Embiid’s most recent injury, spits out some noncommittal verbiage which also carries the “I wasn’t here” caveat. Thanks for that.

Maybe we’ll have more luck finding out what’s up with rookie sensation Jared McCain, whose arthroscopic left knee surgery reportedly went well.

So how’s the kid feeling?

We are so sorry we asked.

Stuff like this makes the old heads yearn for simpler times when players got the necessary medical treatment while valuing their privacy and emphasizing the need to give healing 💯.

Those were the days.

📆 This Day in Philly Sports History

At the Meadowlands on December 19, 2010, the Eagles needed a miracle.

📊 Poll

Results from Wednesday:

🔗 Links

• 🥈Doug Gottlieb’s UWGB team lost to a Division II school he derisively referred to as “Nobody U” before the game.

• ❌ Nolan Arenado said thanks but no thanks to being traded to Houston.

• 💵 The University of Alabama’s AD is now in pass the hat mode.

• 🏀 Auburn star Johni Broome injured his shoulder but will not need surgery.

• 📆 Diego Pavia will be 24 years old playing quarterback at Vanderbilt next season.

📺 Coming Up

Games before our next send.

Thursday, December 19, 2024

• Kings at Flyers, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN+, Hulu)

Thanks for reading. See you tomorrow.

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