Wellness

[gardenman]

This is it! The end of the regular season. It seems like just a little while ago we were talking about the draft and here we are at the end of another season. This is going to be a weird Sunday with lots of players playing who we've never heard of before as teams that have made the playoffs are resting starters. Some teams are fighting for their lives while many more are just happy to have the season behind them.

Let's take a look at some of the important games today. The Chicago/Green Bay game is very, very important to Green Bay. If they win, they're in the playoffs. Reportedly Chicago is playing their starters and playing to win this game despite not really needing to. They apparently are treating this as their first playoff game and want Green Bay out of the playoffs. It's an interesting approach to take. If they win and don't get anyone injured, it might turn out well for Chicago. If they lose, it could be very, very bad for Chicago. I think Green Bay will pull out the win.

Another important NFC game is the Giants and Redskins. The Packers have to lose for this game to matter to the Giants' playoff chances, but losing this game would be a problem for Tom Coughlin. His job seems to be hanging by a thread now and losing to Washington wouldn't help him any. If Green Bay and the Giants both lose, then Tampa Bay sneaks into the playoffs.

Tonight's game between Seattle and St. Louis will determine the NFC West winner. If Seattle somehow wins the game they'll have finished with a 7-9 record, but still win the West. It's hard to imagine that a team with that poor a record can win the West, but that's the way things stand in the NFC West. If the Rams win they'll have a whopping eight wins, so it's not that big a difference. It might be time to shuffle around those divisions again and get a good team out in the west.

In the AFC, Jacsonville still has a slim chance to sneak into the playoffs. but losing David Garrard (their starting QB) handicaps them a lot. Indy would have to lose to Tennessee to open that door for Jacksonville and I just don't see that happening.

The Eagles play the Cowboys in a game that has absolutely no meaning for either team. The Cowboys currently have something like the eighth overall pick in the NFL draft based on their current record and that could move up or back a few spots by either winning or losing, but other than that it won't affect them too much. Jason Garrett will want to win since Jerry Jones apparently feels that Garrett would have to win five games to even be considered as the next coach and this would be their fifth win under him. Handicapping things for the Cowboys is the likelihood that Stephen McGee will be their starting quarterback.

The Eagles are going with a lot of backup players in today's game to give the starters a needed rest. Kevin Kolb will be the quarterback in the first half, possibly replaced by Mike Kafka (our third string QB) in the second half. Michael Vick, DeSean Jackson, LeSean McCoy, and several starting offensive linement are all expected to sit out the game to recover from nicks and dings as are several defensive starters. It's going to look a lot like that final exhibition game where most of the starters are sitting on the sidelines watching.

I have absolutely no clue who will win the game today, but I'm guessing it's going to get pretty one-sided for whoever wins. I think whoever gets the early momentum in this game is likely to walk away with it by a large margin. Once the tide starts to move one way, stopping it is going to be next to impossible for the other team. This is likely to be a rout for one team or the other.

I'll be watching to see how the Eagles' backups do. I like the looks of Riley Cooper, one of our rookie wide receivers. It'll be interesting to see how he does getting a chance to play a whole game. Chad Hall is another fun guy to watch. He's a wide receiver/kick returner/running back who's a tiny little guy, but very fast and shifty. We're likely to see a lot of him today. Kevin Kolb will do fine if the patchwork offensive line can buy him some time. our backup runnings backs, Harrison and Buckley will also get a chance to show their skills off. Regardless of the score, it will be an interesting game to watch.

Next week the playoffs start! The Eagles are most likley to play the Packers, who beat us in the first game this season. If the Packers miss the playoffs we'll then face the Giants who we beat twice this year. If the Packers and Giants both miss the playoffs we'll face Tampa Bay who we didn't play this year, but who might be the easiest of the three to beat. It's going to be an interesting day.