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Can the Eagles do it? Will Simonwho come back to haunt the birds with his stubby arms? Can the Eagles slow the Saints offense enough? Can the Eagles score 23 points and win again?

Sure, the Birds can do it. Simonwho is prone to getting turned around in coverage. Just have a TE or RB run a double move on him and its over. The ex-Bird I would be worried about is Hollis Thomas. If the guy is fully recovered, he should be a force in the middle. Could make running hard.

-DaveInSanAntonio

With Shepphard out and James in, and the Eagles having a running game, and Stallworth being in, it's going to be a different game, and with all the trick plays that the Saints use, this is going to be a hard game to game plan for on a short week.

Morningweh said the Giants defense did some things that gave the Eagles trouble and that the Eagles had to get off their game plan in the Giants game.

As I recall, the Saints had a good running game against the Eagles and the Eagles had to come back from behind. The Eagles run defense is going to have a bigger challenge this week.

"The Eagles, of course, have to contend not only with the Saints' having an extra week of rest, but with a short week of preparation for Saturday's game. The NFL sticking it to the Eagles because it didn't want the Chicago fans sitting outside in the cold at night is just amazing. If people living in Chicago don't want to get cold, they should move, or build a domed stadium." - Les Bowen

This sucks. The NFL didn't have a problem making us stand out in the cold when we hosted the Falcons on a Saturday night Divisional game. Windy city Nancy-boys.

The NFL wants the Saints to win and will give them any advantage they can. I'm not wearing a tin foil hat or joking...I have no doubt that they want to keep the feel-good Katrina recovery going and if they can put the opposing team on 6 days rest to give the Saints a slight edge, they'll do it.

SZR brought this up yesterday, and it's something I always wondered about: why would the NFL want this to happen? They're not going to experience a ratings boost, they're already the #1 sport, etc.

I'm cheering for the Saints because of Katrina.

They didn't care about us when the flu hit in the early 1900's, so eff them.

"Why would the NFL want this to happen?"

Maybe, since they already sell a shitload of Eagles stuff, they want to get the front running pigs to buy Saints merchandise.

Or they just like torturing us.

Thought that the Saints game being on Saturday allowed more PT viewers to catch the game and add on to the Katrina story.

It's either that or the NFL didn't want the Bears upcoming opening loss to Seattle on primetime.

SZR brought this up yesterday, and it's something I always wondered about: why would the NFL want this to happen? They're not going to experience a ratings boost, they're already the #1 sport, etc.

I think the main thing is expanding their brand and popularity. The Saints have been a black hole for the NFL for decades (bad TV ratings, bad teams, bad publicity, bad equipment sales), but they've suddenly won their first division title and playoff bye in history. They've got Bush, the NFL's most reconizable and popular rookie player, and they've started selling season tickets.

This is an opportunity to solidify the brand in NOLA. If the Saints establish their popularity down there, the NFL has yet another market/region to be popular in (one of the last where they haven't succeeded) and all the floods God can dream up won't wash that way.

WTF is Les Bowen talking about? This has nothing to do with the NFL wanting to give a team an advantage or catering to a fan base. It's just how the seeding works, the number one seeds always play on Sunday.

The only way the NFL influences the outcome of a game is through its stellar refereeing.

I don't know, f-d, still seems a little Oliver Stone-ish to me.

I don't know, f-d, still seems a little Oliver Stone-ish to me.

Maybe so, and I can't say it's true for certain (if Johnson's right, this holds absolutely no water), but the NFL has a little WWF in them, IMO.

but the NFL has a little WWF in them, IMO.

The ref was certainly looking the other way when that INT in Indy was overturned.

BTW, Les Bowen didn't have any conspiricy theories. He simply said the NFL chose to do the Bears game was weather.

He said the Bears had to play on NYE (night) in Chicago, and they didn't want to put the Bears fans out in the elements at night again, so they wanted the afternoon game in Chicago.

The info was leaked to him from within the Eagles organization (they were suppsoedly pretty pissed off about it).

NOW, Johnson could be correct here (I have no idea). The only thing I thought when they announced the dates/times were announced was I thought it was strange that the #1 NFC seed wasn't playing in prime time.

It's just how the seeding works, the number one seeds always play on Sunday.

Philly was a one seed when they beat ATL on a Saturday night in the 2002 season.

There ya go...

BTW, That's the same night the government put a tracking chip in my brain.

I think ATL being on prime time was to showcase Vick, especially since the media was all up his crack after winning the previous Saturday night @ GB.

I don't think it's conspiracy, just think that the NFL wanted to put on primetime what they thought was the better matchup, and they probably thought NO was a more interesting team (both on the field and off) than Chicago.

Isn't that a conspiricy in its own way, too?

I mean...it seems pretty simple to me. If you have two teams coming off a bye and you have the opportunity to give each advancing team 7 days reast OR give 1 team 6 days reast and the other team 8 days, isn't adjusting the schedule for any reason detrimental to fair play and competition?

It was also because the Falcons (the lowest seed) upset the favored Packers in Lambeau.

Exactly, Johnny - Vick was "heralded" as beating the great Favre in Lambeau, a place where they haven't lost a playoff game in about a billion years (nevermind the fact that Vick was pedestrian at best in that game, and had to rely on his D and ST to win).

At that point, Vickmania was running wild and the NFL wanted to ride the hot commodity.

I am really pretty sure these schedules are set by the networks. They paid some serious dollars for the rights. Oftentimes they pay more for the NFL rights than the games themselves generate in advertising revenue. They absorb the losses so they can make sure the captive audience (a VERY desirable demographic of 18-49 year old males that are otherwise difficult to reach) knows that 24 is starting on Tuesday, blah, blah, blah.

If putting NO on in Primetime allows them to tug enough sentimental strings to bring in an extra millions viewers, complete with several montages of the destruction, the rebuilding, and the absolutely central role the NFL had in helping the region get over this tradgedy (blue), then that means some serious dollars in a billion dollar gamble the networks invested in.

The playoff schedules are based on seeding and time zones. Has less to do with catering to cold weather teams and who is most rested.

So far the Playoffs have gone according to seeding. There have been no upsets.

"If putting NO on in Primetime allows them to tug enough sentimental strings to bring in an extra millions viewers, complete with several montages of the destruction, the rebuilding, and the absolutely central role the NFL had in helping the region get over this tradgedy (blue), then that means some serious dollars in a billion dollar gamble the networks invested in."

If this were the case, then why wouldn't the Eagles/Saints game be on Sunday night? Hell, the friggin' Super Bowl (biggest advertising draw on the planet) is played on Sunday night.

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