And in the seventh game, the Eagles were good.
Dream Team good.
In took six games, some of them brutally awful, but the squad many had expected finally arrived Sunday night at Lincoln Financial Field. It couldn't have come at a better moment.
The NFL was put on high alert after the revived Eagles shellacked the Dallas Cowboys, 34-7, in a prime-time game that was anticipated to be an old-fashioned donnybrook between NFC East rivals.
"Eagles are back, and we're ready to play Eagle football," cornerback Asante Samuel said. "And we did that on prime time so everybody could see."
Instead of a tug-of-war, the Eagles' fast-break offense left spike marks all over Rob Ryan's defense. The Birds defense, lifted by the return of end Trent Cole, harassed quarterback Tony Romo into one errant pass after another. It was the second straight sound outing from coordinator Juan Castillo's unit.
And at the final whistle, coach Andy Reid - who after a 2-4 start had seemingly never been so close to seeing his tenure in Philadelphia come to an end - moved to a remarkable 13-0 in games after the bye.
"No idea," Reid said, trying to explain his perfect mark. "Seriously, I have no idea [why]."
The "rest" portion of the Eagles schedule is over. Having dug a hole for themselves, they must continue to tunnel out. They are 3-4, tied with Dallas and Washington in second place in their division, two games behind the New York Giants, who squeaked by the winless Miami Dolphins Sunday.
If the Eagles' balanced, nearly flawless offense plays as it did against the Cowboys, there is no reason to think the Birds can't catch the Giants, who face a difficult stretch over the next six weeks. The Redskins have lost three straight and are all but toast, and the Cowboys were pathetically wretched Sunday night.
The Eagles took it to them right from the get-go. Quarterback Michael Vick, in a performance that echoed his breathtaking Monday night showing at Washington last November, was the picture of precision, completing 21 of 29 passes for 279 yards and two touchdowns.
On the first touchdown - a 12-yard pass to receiver Jeremy Maclin - Vick audibled to a perfectly-executed screen pass.
"A couple of those touchdowns were his calls," Eagles offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg said.
"He did a heck of a job playing the quarterback position tonight."
