Eagles fans. No one likes us. Do we care?

Most NFL fans hope to see the Commanders defeat the Eagles this week. Good.

We’re a long way from Sunday’s game, so we’ll check in on the Flyers and Nova bball today as well. Gotta pace ourselves before we get back to full Birds-mode.

Quick heads-up: Tix for Sunday’s conference title game on sale at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday morning. If you read this in time, might as well shoot your shot on the Ticketmaster release, even if the odds of getting in on the retail sale are slim.

In the email today:

• 😢 Most NFL fans want the Eagles to lose to the Commanders

• 👿 Flyers smite Devils for fourth win in five games

• ✌️ Villanova collapses late, loses to Georgetown

  • 📆 This Day in Philly Sports History

  • 📊 Poll

  • 🔗 Links

  • 📺 Coming Up

The Eagles are favored to beat the Commanders at home in Sunday's NFC title game. The Chiefs are favored to beat the Bills in the AFC matchup later that night.

Based on social media reactions, however, NFL fans do want to see a rematch of Super Bowl LVII.

This isn't particularly surprising. People like underdogs. They love something new. Washington rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels and his Commanders have a great Cinderella story going after the team finished 4-13 last season. And just about everyone—including Eagles fandom—is tired of watching the Chiefs win it all.

A Chiefs - Eagles Super Bowl could make for fantastic theater, with Jalen Hurts and company seeking revenge for their defeat two years ago.

Andy Reid has his Philadelphia origin story, the Kelce brothers and their associates are still everywhere at all times, and the two teams would bring a tremendous amount of star power to the big stage. Neither squad would be heavily favored, probably making for a great game.

A Bills - Eagles Super Bowl could also provide tremendous fun. The Bills and Eagles fan bases are two of the most passionate (and wild) groups on the planet.

Buffalo has never won a Super Bowl, despite four consecutive appearances decades ago and some very strong teams in recent years. The Birds banked one Super Bowl in the 2017-18 season, but remain a similar hard-luck franchise in the eyes of most.

And, like an Eagles - Chiefs rematch, an Eagles - Bills tilt would be expected to be a close game.

Yet here we are:

Welp. Play the song. 🎵We’re from Philly, f’ing Philly….

The Flyers have a hill to climb to get back into the playoff picture.

That’s probably especially vexing for our colleague Anthony Sanfilippo, who thinks one simple tweak could make the Flyers an entirely different proposition.

It’s possible that the Flyers read this piece and decided that, if they lack a true #1 goaltender, then maybe they should just do a better job keeping the puck from getting that far.

Sam Ersson got the start in net on Saturday and, per the above, had very little to do. Ersson stopped 12 of the 13 shots that reached him.

For Flyers fans who are old enough to remember, this game felt a little like watching the old trap the Devils ran in front of Martin Brodeur. Of course, even if it’s boring, it’s more fun to watch it when it means your team wins the game.

Matvei Michkov, Bobby Brink and Travis Konecny (into an empty net) scored for the Flyers, who posted their fourth win in five games while taking points from all five.

The past two games were divisional wins over the Islanders and the Devils. Five of the next six games also come against the Islanders, Devils and Rangers. Before all that, though, the Flyers have a very winnable game at home tonight against Detroit.

The next six games are going to have direct and serious effect on whether the Flyers can climb back into the playoff race.

It’s a down year for the Big East. The most recent AP Top 25 boasts three teams in the top 20, which sounds impressive until you see that Marquette is the best of the bunch at #10 and UConn (#19) and St. John’s (#20) are barely holding on.

Villanova’s woeful start to the season before conference play began meant that any hope of the Top 25 was probably obliterated and the focus had to move to trying to sneak into the NCAA Tournament field.

To do that, the Wildcats needed to grab “easy” wins whenever possible. A home game against Georgetown, who hadn’t beaten the Wildcats on the road since 2011, should have fit the bill.

Villanova led this game 63-55 with 2:39 left despite failing to score in the prior two minutes.

In that fateful 2:39, Villanova turned the ball over twice and missed three shots from the field, including Eric Dixon’s last gasp jumper at the buzzer.

The Wildcats lost senior transfer Wooga Poplar early in the first half in a moment reminiscent of the Rollie Massimino/John Thompson days.

Poplar’s departure left Villanova overly dependent on Dixon (29 points) and Jordan Longino (18 points).

DIxon (10-23 from the field) and Longino (6-13) combined for 75% of Villanova’s points. No other Wildcat made more than one field goal or scored more than four points.

Nova Nation is handling it well.

Villanova gets back at it at Marquette on Friday night. A road win against the #10 team in the country would do a lot to stanch the bleeding from this collapse.

📆 This Day in Philly Sports History

On January 21, 2018, the Eagles dominated the Vikings in the NFC Championship Game.

📊 Poll

Results from Monday:

🔗 Links

• 🏆 Ohio State defeated Notre Dame in the CFP National Championship Game.

• 🦅 Mayor Cherelle Parker struggled with the E-A-G-L-E-S chant.

• ⚾️ Former Phillie Andrew Knapp hung up the tools of ignorance.

• 🏌️‍♂️Scottie Scheffler is hoping to return to action at Pebble Beach.

• ⚖️ Maxim Tsyplakov’s hit on Flyer Ryan Poehling resulted in a three-game ban.

📺 Coming Up

Games before our next send.

Tuesday, January 21, 2025

• Red Wings at Flyers, 7:00 p.m. (NBC Sports Philadelphia)

• Sixers at Nuggets, 10:00 p.m. (tru TV)

Thanks for reading. See you tomorrow.

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