(Along with Falcons beating Rams in Wild Card round): 

 

 

Both Falcons and Vikings wins kept Eagles from facing Saints (whom I was most afraid of because they have had Eagles number). It would very likely have been tougher for Eagles to get to Super Bowl having to play Saints instead of Vikings.

That thread title is very awkward and confusing. 

2 hours ago, EagleJoe8 said:

That thread title is very awkward and confusing. 

Yeah the whole thing is confused. 

There are two separate points to this.

1) Would we have beaten the Falcons if it wasn't for that freak catch off Neal's knee. This is a legitimate question. Foles looked nervous in the first half against the Falcons and made some really bad throws. After that freak reception, he seemed to calm down, hit Jeffery on the sideline to set up the field goal and played really well within a conservative game plan in the second half. He was obviously dominant in the two games that followed. If that ball gets intercepted, chances are the Falcons score at least a field goal making it 13-6. Foles is a confidence player a lot of the time, so while the game wouldn't have been out of reach, the Falcons would have been heavy favourites at that point in what was a low scoring game in windy conditions.

2) Would we have beaten the Saints and Brees, who we have often struggled against, if they beat the Vikings. I firmly think yes. We do struggle against Brees, but look what Schwartz did against them the next year. Held them to 20 points in New Orleans with an inferior defense to what he had in 2017. Foles was also playing light outs and tore apart a historically good Vikings D. I don't think that Brees would have gone to pieces in the way that Keenum did, but I'm still confident the Eagles would have won that game in Philly.

@ManchesterEagle,

Didnt want to quote the whole post, but regarding point 1, it’s an interesting thought experiment. Freak plays like that can turn the tide of a game. I’m certainly glad we didn’t have to find out. 
 

Point 2, I actually did want to play the Saints at the time, mainly because Foles and the offense hadn’t exploded yet, and I didn’t think they would against the Vikings D. I thought we had a better chance of our offense making enough plays against the Saints D, while our D was playing very well at home that year. 
 

In retrospect, I am glad things played out how they ultimately did though. 

ehh I thought the 3rd down scramble week 1 against the skins( TD to butterfingers Nelly) was the start of something special. 

Viks were the number 1 ovr defense in the league. Most didnt think we had a chance vs them as well as the Saints so it really didnt matter. Esp after Foles only played a "ok" game vs Falcons. Have to be honest no one expected Foles to go off in the Viks and Pats game. he just so happened to play his best two games of his career when it mattered most. good for him, good for us. 

I'm just glad the freak playoff luck went our way that time because it always went the other way (Fog Bowl, etc)

Blasphemy.  There's no way the Eagles' plays from 2017 happened in 2017.  Check the facts.