Eagles
Underdog Eagles aim to earn their third Super Bowl trip
Published20 Jan 2018
By: Jesse Larch, Sports Talk Philly editor 
They said that they were underdogs. They were told that the Atlanta Falcons had a bye week in the divisional round. They were told that the NFC Championship game was played last week between the Minnesota Vikings and the New Orleans Saints. They are the first one seed to ever be on the wrong end of the betting odds in both of their conference playoff games.
They overcame the odds once already, defeating the Falcons 15-10 after making a stand on a goal-to-go series that started at the nine yard line. Now with the oddsmakers counting them out once more, they will get to prove again that their 13-3 record was no fluke, and that they are bigger than any one of the players that they lost to injury this season.
"They" are your Philadelphia Eagles.
Now your Eagles will get to host the NFC Championship game in front of their homedogs – literally – and look to, as head coach Doug Pederson said in his post game speech last week, "shock the world again."
History on the Eagles' side
This game marks the fourth time that the Eagles will face the Minnesota Vikings in the post season. The Eagles won the previous three meetings, and two of those three meetings were in the only two years that the Eagles made a Super Bowl appearance.
On January 3, 1981 the Ron Jaworski-led Eagles defeated the Vikings by a score of 31-16 en route to the team's first Super Bowl appearance.
On January 16, 2005 it was Andy Reid and Donovan McNabb's Eagles who cruised to a 27-14 victory during a playoff run that ended with the team's second Super Bowl appearance.
The most recent clash took place on January, 4 2009 as Michael Vick's Eagles gave their franchise their third playoff win over the Vikings by a score of 26-14.
In all three of the previous meetings the Eagles defense was dominant. The Vikings have never scored more than 16 points against the Eagles in a playoff game. The Eagles are averaging 28 points in those three games.
The Vikings are 1-3 in their history at Lincoln Financial Field and just 2-6 against the Eagles since the new millennium began.
The old proverb goes "those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it," however this is one bit of history that the Eagles hope to repeat.
Foles vs Keenum
Case Keenum jokingly offered a shout out to the people who predicted that Nick Foles and Keenum would be on the marquee in an NFC Championship game back when the two played together with the St. Louis Rams in 2015.
The two quarterbacks were relegated to being seen as nothing more than backups over the past few seasons, but the optics are severely different now as the two players quarterback the top teams in the NFC, both in terms of their records and the playoff tree.
Keenum has been remarkably efficient since taking over starting duties for the Vikings in week two by throwing for 3,547 yards with 22 touchdowns and seven interceptions – good enough for a 98.3 passer rating.
While Keenum took over early in the season, Foles did not become the Eagles' quarterback until week 14 when Carson Wentz's MVP-caliber season came to an ending after tearing his ACL.
Ironically, Foles would take the reigns against the team the same Franchise the he and Keenum played for together. Foles led the Eagles to two different scoring drives that regained the lead for the Eagles. He followed up that game with a four touchdown performance against the New York Giants.
After a promising start to Foles's renewed tenure as a starter, he quickly came back to earth. In his next five quarters Foles threw for just 202 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions.
Foles bounced back in the Divisional round by completing 23-of-30 pass attempts for 246 yards and, most importantly, did not turn the ball over.
The former teammates and backups will collide for the first time in the NFC Championship game.
Defense wins Championships, and so does home field
One of the most tired – and timeless – sayings in sports is that defense wins championships. With two of the top-five units in the NFL taking the field on Sunday night, that saying will once again be justified.
The Vikings defense ranked first in the NFL in yards allowed, allowing the second fewest pass yards and second fewest rushing yards per game during the regular season.
With two first-team all-pros and four pro bowlers it is safe to call the Vikings' defense elite.
The Eagles' defense has also done everything in its power to earn that elite billing. The Eagles' boast the fourth best defense in terms of yards allowed and no team in the NFL was better at stopping the run.
What the deciding factor may be between this matchup of dominant defenses is the location in which the game is played.
The Vikings allow the fewest points per game, just 16.2 per contest. The Eagles sit at fourth in the league allowing 17.9 points per game.
The caveat is that the Vikings allow 19.0 points per game on the road, which they will be on Sunday night. The Eagles allow just 13.0 points per game at home.
Lincoln Financial Field will undoubtedly have an impact on the game, and especially the defenses.
Injury Report
The only Eagles' player to carry an injury designation into the game is linebacker Dannell Ellerbe. Ellerbe is quesitonable with a hamstring injury that continues to nag him.
Ellerbe missed practice on Wednesday and practiced in a limited capacity on Thursday and Friday.
The Vikings are a little more banged up than the Eagles with four players on their injury report.
The Vikings will be without depth defensive tackle Shamar Stephen as he deals with a knee and ankle injury.
In addition to Stephen, three Vikings are questionable. Nickel cornerback Mackensie Alexander is dealing with a rib injury that forced him to be a limited participant on Wednesday and Thursday and miss practice on Friday.
Starting safety Andrew Sendejo has been in the league's concussion protocol after being on the receiving end of a hard block by Saints' wide receiver Michael Thomas in last week's Divisional matchup. Sendejo was limited on Wednesday and Thursday and practiced in full on Friday despite not yet being released from the concussion protocol.
The final Viking on the injury report is wide receiver Adam Thielen. Thielen led the Vikings in receptions and yards this season, but he has been hampered by a back injury this week. Thielen missed practice on Wednesday and practiced in a limited capacity on Thursday and Friday.
Broadcast Information
Time: 6:40 p.m.
Television: FOX | Play-by-Play by Joe Buck with color commentary by Troy Aikman and sideline reports from Erin Andrews
Radio: 94.1 FM WIP | Play-by-Play by Merrill Reese with color commentary by Mike Quick and sideline reports from Howard Eskin
Online: NFL Game Pass
