Philadelphia 44, Dallas 6.
A playoff spot, after all they've been through.
After all they've put you through.
"It's got to be a dream," Brown said. "Like, I don't know what's going on. It's like we played our perfect game at the end of the year. You know what I mean? This is definitely supposed to be a 10-3, 14-10, one of those type of games. And . . . I don't know. I don't know . . . "
He doesn't know. You don't know. One Sunday after the Eagles walked off the FedEx Field in utter disgust over a 10-3 loss to Washington - "screaming," in the words of owner Jeff Lurie, at losing control of their own destiny - the Eagles ran onto their home field like furloughed prisoners yesterday, with one last chance to redeem this maddeningly uneven season.
Some players knew that Tampa had just lost and Chicago was about to. Some said later that the volume of the crowd at Lincoln Financial Field told them they were playing for something. Some said they didn't need any of that, that playing Dallas was enough, but that was as hard to believe as the absence of flying pigs.
"I was watching all three games," Lurie said. "Kind of pingpong eyes. But focusing on Tampa the most . . . "
Tampa had to lose at home. To Oakland, which was 4-11 going in. Chicago or Minnesota had to lose. Both almost did, but the Bears' loss to Houston, another nonplayoff team, was more unlikely than a Vikings loss to the Giants would have been.
And then the Eagles had to beat Dallas. That alone seemed a stretch, given last Sunday's dismal zero-touchdown performance against the Redskins.
Philadelphia 44, Dallas 6.
Everyone . . . duck.
"Last week, I don't even remember that now," Brown said. "What team was that?"
