ALinChainz
07-04-2004, 11:54 AM
By Don Steinberg, Inquirer Staff Writer
Nobody's predicting exactly how the Eagles will fall short of an NFL championship next season. Just that they will.
Four NFL preview magazines that just hit newsstands all forecast that Philadelphia will win the tough NFC East, then not win the Super Bowl.
All of the magazines, published in regional editions, depict Donovan McNabb on the cover of copies available locally. Athlon Sports, with the cover headline "Super Bowl or Bust," has the Eagles going 12-4 and beating the Minnesota Vikings to reach Super Bowl XXXIX - then losing to the New England Patriots, the defending NFL champions.
McNabb could "drop into that category of great players who couldn't win the big game... . The pressure is on," Athlon's editors warn.
Pro Football Weekly's 2004 preview delivers the teasing cover line, "Eagles: The Super Bowl Wait Is Over." But inside, it has the Eagles (after an 11-5 regular season) losing the Super Bowl to the Indianapolis Colts.
It gets worse.
Lindy's 2004 Pro Football asks: "Can Owens, Kearse Be Super?" on its cover and wonders on its pages inside: "Will Jevon Kearse and Terrell Owens put the Eagles over the top? If they don't, coach/general manager Andy Reid better go over the wall."
It projects the Eagles to win the NFC East but fail to advance to the conference championship. The Lindy's experts foresee the St. Louis Rams beating the Green Bay Packers, then losing to the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Sporting News Pro Football 2004 forecasts the Eagles going 12-4, the best record in the NFC, then not making the conference championship. The Vikings will beat the Seattle Seahawks for the NFC title, then lose the Super Bowl to the Denver Broncos, the magazine predicts. Yes, the Broncos.
The Eagles' addition of Owens and Kearse leaves the team with "no more excuses," the Sporting News says. But "the loss of leaders such as [Troy] Vincent and [Duce] Staley will take its toll in the playoffs, and keep the Eagles from getting into the Super Bowl once again."
Darn.
"One perception is that the Eagles don't really save their best for last," explains Vinnie Iyer, NFL project editor at the Sporting News. "People have just seen the last three years and are wary of picking them. I personally picked them to win the Super Bowl last year, and felt pretty good about it, until the last game."
Smart money everywhere seems to paint the Eagles as a superior team that can't pound home the ultimate victory. Las Vegas Sports Consultants, which provides odds to most Las Vegas casino sports books, has the Eagles' chance of winning the Super Bowl at 6-1. That makes them the top-rated NFC team, second in the NFL to New England's 9-2.
But Reid doesn't seem likely to go over a wall.
"Andy Reid takes a one-game-at-a-time approach and leaves the predictions for everyone else" was all Eagles spokesman Derek Boyko would say about the magazines.
There's one consolation for fans: Most forecasts are wrong. Last year, for instance, Lindy's said the Tennessee Titans would play the Packers in the Super Bowl. This year, the four magazines predict four different Super Bowl winners and seven different teams playing in the big game. There's only one team that gets into the Super Bowl in more than one magazine: the Philadelphia Eagles.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylc=X3oDMTBpcTFhbmEwBF9TAzk1ODYxMDU5BHNlYwN0 bQ--?slug=knight-punditsnotaboardeaglesban&prov=knight&type=lgns
Nobody's predicting exactly how the Eagles will fall short of an NFL championship next season. Just that they will.
Four NFL preview magazines that just hit newsstands all forecast that Philadelphia will win the tough NFC East, then not win the Super Bowl.
All of the magazines, published in regional editions, depict Donovan McNabb on the cover of copies available locally. Athlon Sports, with the cover headline "Super Bowl or Bust," has the Eagles going 12-4 and beating the Minnesota Vikings to reach Super Bowl XXXIX - then losing to the New England Patriots, the defending NFL champions.
McNabb could "drop into that category of great players who couldn't win the big game... . The pressure is on," Athlon's editors warn.
Pro Football Weekly's 2004 preview delivers the teasing cover line, "Eagles: The Super Bowl Wait Is Over." But inside, it has the Eagles (after an 11-5 regular season) losing the Super Bowl to the Indianapolis Colts.
It gets worse.
Lindy's 2004 Pro Football asks: "Can Owens, Kearse Be Super?" on its cover and wonders on its pages inside: "Will Jevon Kearse and Terrell Owens put the Eagles over the top? If they don't, coach/general manager Andy Reid better go over the wall."
It projects the Eagles to win the NFC East but fail to advance to the conference championship. The Lindy's experts foresee the St. Louis Rams beating the Green Bay Packers, then losing to the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Sporting News Pro Football 2004 forecasts the Eagles going 12-4, the best record in the NFC, then not making the conference championship. The Vikings will beat the Seattle Seahawks for the NFC title, then lose the Super Bowl to the Denver Broncos, the magazine predicts. Yes, the Broncos.
The Eagles' addition of Owens and Kearse leaves the team with "no more excuses," the Sporting News says. But "the loss of leaders such as [Troy] Vincent and [Duce] Staley will take its toll in the playoffs, and keep the Eagles from getting into the Super Bowl once again."
Darn.
"One perception is that the Eagles don't really save their best for last," explains Vinnie Iyer, NFL project editor at the Sporting News. "People have just seen the last three years and are wary of picking them. I personally picked them to win the Super Bowl last year, and felt pretty good about it, until the last game."
Smart money everywhere seems to paint the Eagles as a superior team that can't pound home the ultimate victory. Las Vegas Sports Consultants, which provides odds to most Las Vegas casino sports books, has the Eagles' chance of winning the Super Bowl at 6-1. That makes them the top-rated NFC team, second in the NFL to New England's 9-2.
But Reid doesn't seem likely to go over a wall.
"Andy Reid takes a one-game-at-a-time approach and leaves the predictions for everyone else" was all Eagles spokesman Derek Boyko would say about the magazines.
There's one consolation for fans: Most forecasts are wrong. Last year, for instance, Lindy's said the Tennessee Titans would play the Packers in the Super Bowl. This year, the four magazines predict four different Super Bowl winners and seven different teams playing in the big game. There's only one team that gets into the Super Bowl in more than one magazine: the Philadelphia Eagles.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylc=X3oDMTBpcTFhbmEwBF9TAzk1ODYxMDU5BHNlYwN0 bQ--?slug=knight-punditsnotaboardeaglesban&prov=knight&type=lgns