Fortunately, each and every one earned two thumbs up from the pigskin producers called the Cold, Hard Football Facts. The beer wasn't bad, either. Of course, for us, that's kinda like your lungs saying "I enjoyed the oxygen."
The certainly looked like a statistical contender this year, as
we noted last week, even though their 9-6-1 record didn't quite reflect what the numbers might have told us.
More importantly than the numbers and the regular-season record, the Eagles looked like contenders by going on the road to defeat the NFC North champ Vikings with relative ease, 26-14.
There were two lynchpins to the victory: a powerful group of
Defensive Hogs who overwhelmed Vikings QB Tarvaris Jackson and contained explosive RB Adrian Peterson on 19 of his 20 carries: 40 of Peterson's 83 yards came on a single TD run. (You'll see more on Philly's D-Hogs below.)
The other lynchpin, of course, is Donovan McNabb. He was not spectacular Sunday. But given the fact that Minnesota's own collection of
Defensive Hogs, and Jared Allen in particular, were up in his grill all day, McNabb performed remarkably well.
Athletically, he still looked like a 24-year-old phenom, darting in and out of the pocket to avoid the rush time and again, while still hitting on 23 of 34 passes for 300 yards, a healthy 8.8 YPA, 1 TD, 1 INT and 92.8 passer rating.
The key to McNabb's success – and the key to Philly's postseason hopes if they are to fulfill our preseason expectations – is the quarterback's remarkable ability to keep the ball out of the hands of opposing defenses.
As of the end of the 2008 season, McNabb is the least intercepted passer in history: since joining the NFL 10 years ago, he's thrown just 90 interceptions in 4,303 pass attempts – a record-low rate of 2.09 percent (Neil O'Donnell is No. 2, at 2.11 percent).
To put McNabb's 90 picks since 1999 into perspective, consider that Brett Favre has thrown 101 INTs since 2004 alone.
Over the last three seasons, McNabb has been almost un-pickable, throwing just 24 picks in 1,360 attempts – a ridiculously miniscule INT rate of 1.77 percent.
The Giants, Philly's opponent in the divisional round, were even less effective at getting to him this year – intercepting just one McNabb pass in 66 attempts (1.52%).
That's good news for Philly's Super Bowl hopes. After all, the Giants pose the biggest statistical threat to McNabb remaining in the NFC, as they ranked No. 8 in
Defensive Passer Rating this year and No. 9 in
Defensive Hog Index. Generally speaking, the Giants are pretty good at forcing quarterbacks into sub-par days.
The other two NFC contenders, the Panthers and Cardinals,
struggled in both areas. As we all know, turnovers kill teams, especially in the playoffs. But the combination of McNabb and a rock-solid defense gives the Eagles at least one advantage over the rest of the NFC field: the other QB seems more likely to make critical mistakes than McNabb.
When we do our off-season statistical analysis, we might have to do some deep, long soul-searching over our
Defensive Hog Index.
More importantly, the team that topped the Index during last year, the Giants, won the Super Bowl. And, as you may remember, New York's Defensive Hogs played a substantial role in the team's upset of the Patriots in the Super Bowl, batting around Tom Brady as if he were a pigskin pinata.
The indicator looks like it might pay dividends again this year: The teams that were better in the Defensive Hog Index this year went 4-0 in the wildcard round.
The top three
Defensive Hogs, and four of the top five, will play this weekend in the divisional round: No. 1 Pittsburgh, No. 2 Philly, No. 3 Baltimore and No. 5 Tennessee.
Indy's Marvin Harrison is among the all-time leaders in every single receiving category in history: second in receptions (1,102), fourth in yards (14,580) and fifth in touchdowns (128).
But he calls in sick and heads to Cubs games on the day of the big test. Harrison has now played a full 16-game season in the playoffs, and this is what he has to show for it:
- 65 catches for 862 yards and 2 touchdowns.
No Hall of Fame-caliber player in history falls off the face of the earth more completely come playoff time.
He was a non-factor, as usual, in Indy's 23-17 loss to the Chargers Saturday night, catching just three passes for 20 yards.
The most damning part is the touchdowns: both of Harrison's postseason scores in the same game, Indy's 41-10 win over the Broncos in the 2003 wildcard playoffs. In other words, one of the most prolific regular-season receivers in history has been held without a single score in 15 of 16 playoff games in his career.
We've piled on Peyton Manning in the past for his obviously sub-par performances in the playoffs. But maybe we're being a little unfair. As one poster in the CHFF Forum noted this weekend, it's hard to look like an all-star when your top battery-mate fails to show up year after year.
In fact, given Harrison's disappearing act in the playoffs, maybe Manning has gone above and beyond the call of duty, winning seven of 15 playoff games while playing with just 10 men on offense.
Age and treachery beat youth and experience when the Cardinals surprised the Falcons Saturday in Arizona.
The Cardinals are the oldest franchise in pro football – founded in 1898 and one of the charter members of the NFL in 1920. The Falcons are one of the youngest franchises in pro football – founded in 1966 as one of the harbingers of the sea-changes that overtook the NFL in the late 1960s.
Cardinals QB Kurt Warner, meanwhile, is one of the oldest in pro football – an 11-year NFL veteran who turns 38 this year. Falcons QB Matt Ryan is one of the youngest in pro football – a rookie who turns 24 this year and was playing Tecmo Bowl in 10th grade when Warner won the Super Bowl.
But on Saturday Warner easily outplayed Matty Ice, who melted in the desert as his favored and superior Falcons lost, 30-24.
Warner completed 19 of 32 passes (59.4%) for 271 yards, 8.5 YPA, 2 TD, 1 INT and a 94.7 passer rating.
Ryan, despite facing the
pathetic Cardinals pass defense (36 TDs allowed this year), completed just 26 of 40 (65.0%) for 199 yards, 5.0 YPA, 2 TD, 2 INT and a 72.8 passer rating.
Warner and the Cardinals may have caught a break with their match-up against the Panthers in the divisional round, too. Carolina (No. 15 in
DPR) is almost as soft on pass defense as the Falcons were this year (No. 18).
But with the Cardinals as
statistically soft as they are everywhere else but in their passing game, they'll need to squeeze every last ounce of production out of Warner's old arm to win as many playoff games here in the 2008 season (two) as they had won in their previous 88 seasons.
While Harrison seems to take days off, at least he's on the field.
San Diego's LaDainian Tomlinson disappears every year, and when he is spotted he's wearing a pink tutu on the sidelines. Typically, injuries are the problem. Or at least they're the problem that's cited. But, gee, a little something out of one of the most productive regular-season offensive threats in history would be nice.
Tomlinson has rushed for 100 yards just once in six career playoff games, grinding out 123 yards on 23 carries
But his six-game totals certainly underwhelm:
- 84 attempts for 303 yards, 3.6 YPA, and 4 TDs
He caught nine passes in his first playoff game, San Diego's 20-17 loss to the Jets back in the 2004 playoffs. But since then, he's caught 7 passes for 104 yards in the next five games.
Saturday's wildcard win over the Colts was a classic disappearing act for Tomlinson. He was used sparingly in the first half, carrying 5 times for 25 yards and a touchdown, but then yielded the floor to Darren Sproles in the second half, who tore apart the suspect Indy run defense for 105 yards and 2 TDs on 23 carries.
In fact, in San Diego's last three playoff games, LT has been outrushed by Sproles or former back-up Michael Turner in each game. The fact that both have been so effective off the bench, and that Turner went out and had an MVP-type season with the Falcons this year, makes you wonder if LT really is all that, or whether anybody could be productive paired with the talented San Diego offense.
The oddest part is this, folks: Tomlinson has missed just one game in eight pro seasons. It's a remarkable streak of durability for an NFL running back. Yet he's always injured in the playoffs ... something doesn't compute.
If Tomlinson is to change his postseason reputation, this would be a good week to overcome his groin injury: the Chargers face a Pittsburgh team this weekend that's armed with the top Defensive Hogs in football this year.
It's a perfect opportunity for a Hall-of-Fame type player to make a statement.
While the rest of the world watched four NFL playoff games this weekend, we drank colossal amounts of homebrew at 
