EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Despite a season marked by injuries to key players and inconsistency, the Philadelphia Eagles have a shot at not only making the playoffs, but getting a home game.
That’s the NFC East this season, and the Eagles (8-7) can wrap it up by beating the New York Giants (4-11) on Sunday at MetLife Stadium.
Philadelphia is riding a season-high three-game winning streak coming into the regular-season finale. Beating the Giants has been the norm lately. Coach Doug Pederson’s team has won six straight times and 10 of 11 against New York.
“Things didn’t look too good for us obviously just a few weeks ago, but our guys have battled, put ourselves in this position,” Pederson said. “For us, it’s just a matter of trying to go 1-0 like everybody does in these games. We’ve got to have a good week of preparation, and if we do the things that we’re capable of doing and take care of the football and all that, then hopefully we can become the champs.”
The problem for the Eagles is the division has been unpredictable. Just ask Dallas. They led it most of the season, were coming off an impressive win over the Rams and had beaten the Eagles earlier in the season. With a clinching on the line in Philadelphia last weekend, they laid an egg in a 17-9 loss. A win would have wrapped up the division.
Now it’s the Eagles’ turn.
The problem is the Giants have played well lately, winning their last two, albeit against weaklings Miami and Washington. New York also built leads of 19-3 and 17-3, respectively, in its last two games with Philadelphia, only to see the Eagles rally. The 23-17 overtime loss in Philadelphia stung big time.
“We want to play spoiler,” veteran safety Antoine Bethea said. “We are not going to the playoffs, so we definitely want to get this W and knock them out. We don’t want anyone celebrating on our field.”
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