Its a little more than an hour until the kickoff of the Giants/Eagles game. Most would agree that the Eagles have little to no chance to make the playoffs this year since their record sits at 5-7. However, they remain just a game back in the Wild Card standings and so mathematically, it is still possible.
Likely? No. Possible? Yes.
The Eagles have been a hard team to figure out this year. What's the cause for the troubles they've had? Any number of things from luck to strategy to roster composition can be considered, but in all liklihood, the troubles stem from an anemic passing game.
Brian Burke of Reston, Virginia is a retired aerospace engineer and Navy fighter pilot. Now, he crunches football statistics [my suggestion for new call sign: "Pocket Protector"]. Burke has examined which statistics are most important in the outcome of an NFL football game. The most important he has found is passing yards per passing attempt. As a matter of fact, he estimates that if your NFL team is average in every way, except for passing yards per attempt, your team will win, on average, 11 games.
So far, this season, it seems to make sense. The top four teams in passing yards per attempt this year are the Cowboys, Patriots, Packers, and Colts, all of which are teams almost everyone would consider to be the top four in the NFL.
Where do the Eagles rank? 16th out of 32 teams. Quite middle of the pack, just like their record in the NFC.
