In a meaningless game between two rivals who meet back in Philly on Saturday, the ending was quite exciting. Tampa said, it had wanted to win to keep the momentum going. They failed when, Oregon University quarterback AJ Feely led the Eagles to two late fourth quarter drives and a comeback win down, 13-3. The win gave the Eagles back to back 11-5 seasons. And if all goes well this week, they will get a trip to the "Windy City" to play Da Bears. Feely finished the game 10 for 14 and 143 yards with 2 TD's and 1 INT. Donovan started, but only stayed in long enough to hand off the ball twice. Koy Detner relieved McNabb on the third play and was not very sharp. Hugh Douglass, Troy Vincent, James Thrash, Brian Dawkins, Duce Staley, Tra Thomas and Chad Lewis didn't even dress. Others like Jon Runyan and Jeremiah Trotter only played a few plays and then were pulled. Some players like Bobby Williams played extended time in his first game of the season. It was like a pre-season game, except instead of scrubs playing, it was mostly backups and third team personnel. Both coaches did not want any major injuries. The only two injuries suffered by the Eagles were, Rod Smart who hurt his foot and special teamer, Ike Reese who hurt his foot. Smart was placed on Injured Reserve and Reese may miss 4 weeks, but will remain on the active roster for now.

Besides being 0-20 when the temperature outside is below 40 degrees, the Bucs are also 0-5 on the road in the playoffs. Of course their last lost, came last year on New Year's Eve at the friendly, cold confines of the loveable Vet. The only thing changed from last year, is that Philadelphia changed the surface from that concrete-like astroturf to the new softer NexTurf. Tampa Bay has never played yet on NexTurf, at least not in this cold of weather. The only other team that has a playing surface like this is the Seattle Seahawks and that is not even their own stadium. They have been playing at the University of Washington's Huskie Stadium, while the Seahawks new stadium is being built. The Bucs are also 6-34 when the temperature is below 50 degrees. Back to that boring game. One negative for the Eagles is that they were penalized 11 times for 100 yards. The Bucs on the other hand were flagged only once. That occurred with only 20 seconds left, when Shaun King was called for intentonally grounding the ball. It was a killer 10 yard penalty and they lost 10 seconds on the clock. Their last play was a Hail Mary pass that went incomplete. The only other noteworthy stat was how many points the Eagles would give up. The Eagles entered last night's game game in reach of an NFL record for fewest points allowed on the road during a 16 game season. They ended up only giving up 64 points all told for an average of 8.0 points per game. The Ravens set the record last year with 76 points for an average of 9.5 points per game. It was the lowest any professional team allowed since the 1946 Cleveland Browns allowed only 6.3 points per game. But they played in the old All-American Conference at the time. Only the 1942 Chicago Bears gave up less in the NFL. They held opponents to 4.2 points per game.

Philadelphia also finished last night's game not allowing any team to score more than 24 points in now 32 consecutive games. Only the Vikings from 1968 to 1971 have a longer streak. Their streak was 41 straight games. The Eagles could break that record next year in game 10 of the regular season. The Eagles were also the only team this year that held every team to 21 points or lower in every game. The Cards and Giants each scored 21, while the Raiders and Rams each scored 20 in a game. The Cowboys scored 18. And then everybody else scored 14 or less, usually much less. Well, I have my ticket in Section 619, Row 5, Seat 17. Come by to say hello if you are joining me at the Vet. It will be my first real NFL action since the lowly 1998 season. That year, I saw the Chiefs (a loss) and the Redskins (a win). The Eagles finished the season at 3-13 and thus ending the Ray Rhodes era. Since then, the Eagles went 5-11 in Andy Reid's first season, then back to back with a record of 11-5. It has been a very good season for the Birds, with many people in the Philly media predicting 9-7. I thought they would be 10-6 on the season, but I did not think they would win first place. Well, we swept the Giants twice and won our first division title since 1988 in the Buddy Ryan era. The Eagles need to win at least against Tampa to improve from last year, but if they would simply make it to the NFC Championship Game, that would be great. Who knows, we win versus the Bucs, then beat the Bears in Chicago and the Rams lose to either the Packers or 49ers, Philadelphia would host the NFC Championship game for the first time since 1981, when Dick Vermeil was the head coach. Stranger things have happened...