The Eagles Will Sweep The Giants in 2011
By author
That’s right, you heard it here first. I am going on record to predict that the Giants will once again be swept by the Eagles, thus killing their chances to make it into the playoffs. Again. Because it keeps happening.
I hope someone at the Meadowlands is listening to my attempt at reverse psychology. Please prove me wrong! Please!!!
Well, according to recent reports and a few well-publicized tweets between Osi and LeSean “Lady Gaga” McCoy, the Giants seem to have been psychologically affected by dropping six straight to Philly. It would be one thing if they were just recurring losses by a good team, but this is a division rival with the power to make or break a playoff run. For three seasons running, the Eagles have broken any chance for the Giants to advance in the playoffs. And each loss is worse than the last one. I still shudder at the mere memory of the two epic meltdowns in 2010.
It wouldn’t be so frustrating if the Eagles were simply better than the Giants, but they’re not. The reality is these games should have been split every season. Dan Graziano at ESPN lays it out nicely for us here:
"The streak doesn’t make a lot of sense. Since the start of the 2008 season, the Giants’ record is 30-19 and the Eagles’ record is 32-20-1 (counting playoffs). It’s not as though the Eagles are winning 12 games every year and the Giants are winning six. They are comparable teams, rivals familiar with each other, and if you asked somebody who didn’t know, he probably would guess the two teams were playing each other about evenly during that span. But they’re not…The Giants were 11-1 and thinking about a second straight Super Bowl title when the Eagles beat them in the 2008 Week 14 game that began the streak. Five weeks later, they beat them in a divisional-round playoff game to end the New York title defense. They beat them twice during the Giants’ epic collapse in 2009, and if the Giants had won just one of their two games against the Eagles in 2010, they’d have made the playoffs and Philadelphia would have been fighting out a wild-card spot with the Packers."
In other words, for three seasons in a row, the Giants are rolling along nicely until they hit a big green and black wall. They have not been the same team after that first game with the Eagles, and they bleed a slow death until the Eagles put them out of their misery and end their season.
This year’s schedule, however, is very different. Instead of waiting until November and December to face off, the Giants will head down the turnpike in week three. They should be 2-0 at that point, having already played the Redskins and Rams. The Eagles come to the Meadowlands week 11, giving the Giants more time to recover before December.
Will scheduling be the difference-maker this year, and cure the Giants of their bird flu? No, no it will not…OK guys, bring back that famous chip-on-the-shoulder mentality that won you a Super Bowl a few years ago.