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EVENTS
CNNSI.com GROUP
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Buckle down Eagles must find consistency in the playoffs
Updated: Friday December 29, 2000 1:01 AM
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- The Philadelphia Eagles' trip to the playoffs might be a short one if they continue to play inconsistently. The Eagles finished the season by winning two in a row and six of seven, but they struggled on both sides of the ball in the last two games. In a 35-24 victory against the Cleveland Browns on Dec. 10, Philadelphia's defense allowed 418 total yards to the worst offense in the NFL. Quarterback Doug Pederson picked apart the secondary, completing 29-of-40 passes for a career-high 309 yards. After a bye week, the Eagles scored just one touchdown against the league's 22nd-ranked defense in a 16-7 victory against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday. "It's an ugly win, but an ugly win is better than a pretty loss," left tackle Tra Thomas said. But the Eagles realize it'll be difficult to beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in next Sunday's wild-card game with another sluggish performance. "If we're going to be a team that's going to go all the way, we've got to pick it up," defensive end Hugh Douglas said. "This is for real now. This is for all the marbles. If you don't get it done, you're going home flat out." Turnovers were the biggest problem against the Bengals. Donovan McNabb threw one interception and lost one fumble and running back Chris Warren had two fumbles in his debut with the Eagles. One of Warren's fumbles came at Cincinnati's 5-yard line.
"A good team in the playoffs will beat you when you do that stuff," long-snapper Mike Bartrum said. "I think we'll regroup and be ready, though." The Eagles are making their first playoff appearance in four years. After winning just eight games over the last two seasons, Philadelphia went 11-5, despite losing star running back Duce Staley in Week 5. But simply making the playoffs wasn't the team's goal. "No one gave us a shot to do this," free safety Brian Dawkins said. "They were thinking we'd probably go 8-8 or a game above or below .500 and here we are. But we're not satisfied." The Eagles clinched a playoff berth after beating Cleveland, but weren't assured a home playoff game until Green Bay beat the Buccaneers on Sunday. Tampa has never won a game (0-19) when the temperature at kickoff was 40 or below, and it figures to be cold at Veterans Stadium for a 4:15 start on New Year's Eve. "I want it to be minus-20 degrees if possible because for us to go to a warm climate is hard so I'm pretty sure for a warm-weather team to come to a freezing climate is even tougher," Dawkins said. Philadelphia already has an advantage because its coaching staff spent parts of the bye week preparing for possible playoff opponents. Most of the scenarios had the Eagles playing Tampa so a lot of the time was spent on the Bucs. McNabb also studied Tampa's defense a little. "Tampa Bay flies around the ball," McNabb said. "Warren Sapp is the feature player as well as [John] Lynch who comes down to involve himself in the run. The secret is Derrick Brooks, Jamie Duncan and [Marcus] Jones, guys who sort of made a name for themselves in the past couple years but nobody talks about, but you can see it on film."
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