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Andy Reid hoping familiarity breeds success
POSTED: January 6, 2010 By Matt Gelb
Inquirer Staff Writer
The question was posed to Andy Reid, and he hesitated for a few seconds while deciding the correct way to answer it. "Is there anything good about facing the same team two weeks in a row?"
"Familiarity, I guess, is the primary thing," the Eagles' head coach said Monday after his momentary pause. "At this point, you're in the playoffs. It's a single-elimination tournament. You really don't care who you play or where you play - you're in.
"Anything can go. You don't care if you played them last week or two weeks ago. You're in the tournament. In our case, since we did play them last week, it's important to figure out what we did wrong and get that corrected."
This regular-season-then-playoff back-to-back situation has happened nine times since 1990, when the current 12-team playoff format began. The Week 17 loser has won the playoff game five times (a .556 winning percentage).
For the 20th time since the merger in 1970, a team has a chance to cap a three-game sweep of another opponent. In 12 of the previous 19 tries, the sweep has happened. The Eagles were on the short end of a three-game sweep in 2000 when the New York Giants pulled it off.
Adding another factor to the possible sweep is that the two teams will play twice in just six days.
So, yes, there is plenty of familiarity.
The biggest challenge of overcoming that, Dallas head coach Wade Phillips said yesterday, is making as many adjustments as you can in such a short time. But a minute later, he corrected himself.
"It's a game against a division team," Phillips said, "so there aren't too many adjustments you can make."
Phillips has been in this situation before, when he was the head coach of Denver in 1993. That year, the Los Angeles Raiders completed a three-game sweep of Phillips' Broncos - including wins in the final game of the regular season and the first round of the playoffs.
Denver squandered a 17-point lead in the second game against Los Angeles and would have secured the home-field advantage in the playoffs had it won. That's what Phillips remembers most.
"It's an advantage playing at home," Phillips said. "That's a big one."
And that's probably one of the primary factors in teams' having success in completing three-game sweeps. Almost all the teams going for the sweep had the home-field advantage, which likely played a large role in the .632 winning percentage in the third game.
Moreover, if a team has already beaten the other two times, it just simply could be the better squad.
When the Giants beat the Eagles for the third time in 2000, posting a 20-10 victory in the second round of the playoffs, it was "devastating," linebacker Jeremiah Trotter said.
Looking back on it, Trotter can understand the sweep.
"I know the year the Giants beat us, at that particular time, they were just the better team," he said yesterday.
This time, Trotter said, Dallas doesn't have the Eagles' number as the Giants did in 2000. Given the way last week played out, Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb implied that the back-to-back games would have more of an effect on Dallas.
"I think it could hurt you more than it can help you," McNabb said yesterday. "I think, confidence-wise, if you get overly confident or you come into the game thinking that things will be the same, then you get shocked with the opposing team coming in and being very effective in what their game plan was."
Both Phillips and Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo downplayed any notion of overconfidence. Because of Dallas' lack of success in the postseason, they said, it's hard to overlook the importance of winning a playoff game.
"We keep hearing how many times we've lost in the playoffs or how many times we haven't won in so many years and all that," Phillips said. "That's something coming at them all the time."
In the locker room, the Eagles are playing up the revenge factor. After being embarrassed in Dallas, they have the immediate chance to make up for it against a team they know all too well.
"We know what we're seeing out there," McNabb said. "We have played each other twice a year and now we have another opportunity, so we just have to clean things up and just go out and play football."
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POSTED: January 6, 2010 By Matt Gelb
Inquirer Staff Writer
The question was posed to Andy Reid, and he hesitated for a few seconds while deciding the correct way to answer it. "Is there anything good about facing the same team two weeks in a row?"
"Familiarity, I guess, is the primary thing," the Eagles' head coach said Monday after his momentary pause. "At this point, you're in the playoffs. It's a single-elimination tournament. You really don't care who you play or where you play - you're in.
"Anything can go. You don't care if you played them last week or two weeks ago. You're in the tournament. In our case, since we did play them last week, it's important to figure out what we did wrong and get that corrected."
This regular-season-then-playoff back-to-back situation has happened nine times since 1990, when the current 12-team playoff format began. The Week 17 loser has won the playoff game five times (a .556 winning percentage).
For the 20th time since the merger in 1970, a team has a chance to cap a three-game sweep of another opponent. In 12 of the previous 19 tries, the sweep has happened. The Eagles were on the short end of a three-game sweep in 2000 when the New York Giants pulled it off.
Adding another factor to the possible sweep is that the two teams will play twice in just six days.
So, yes, there is plenty of familiarity.
The biggest challenge of overcoming that, Dallas head coach Wade Phillips said yesterday, is making as many adjustments as you can in such a short time. But a minute later, he corrected himself.
"It's a game against a division team," Phillips said, "so there aren't too many adjustments you can make."
Phillips has been in this situation before, when he was the head coach of Denver in 1993. That year, the Los Angeles Raiders completed a three-game sweep of Phillips' Broncos - including wins in the final game of the regular season and the first round of the playoffs.
Denver squandered a 17-point lead in the second game against Los Angeles and would have secured the home-field advantage in the playoffs had it won. That's what Phillips remembers most.
"It's an advantage playing at home," Phillips said. "That's a big one."
And that's probably one of the primary factors in teams' having success in completing three-game sweeps. Almost all the teams going for the sweep had the home-field advantage, which likely played a large role in the .632 winning percentage in the third game.
Moreover, if a team has already beaten the other two times, it just simply could be the better squad.
When the Giants beat the Eagles for the third time in 2000, posting a 20-10 victory in the second round of the playoffs, it was "devastating," linebacker Jeremiah Trotter said.
Looking back on it, Trotter can understand the sweep.
"I know the year the Giants beat us, at that particular time, they were just the better team," he said yesterday.
This time, Trotter said, Dallas doesn't have the Eagles' number as the Giants did in 2000. Given the way last week played out, Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb implied that the back-to-back games would have more of an effect on Dallas.
"I think it could hurt you more than it can help you," McNabb said yesterday. "I think, confidence-wise, if you get overly confident or you come into the game thinking that things will be the same, then you get shocked with the opposing team coming in and being very effective in what their game plan was."
Both Phillips and Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo downplayed any notion of overconfidence. Because of Dallas' lack of success in the postseason, they said, it's hard to overlook the importance of winning a playoff game.
"We keep hearing how many times we've lost in the playoffs or how many times we haven't won in so many years and all that," Phillips said. "That's something coming at them all the time."
In the locker room, the Eagles are playing up the revenge factor. After being embarrassed in Dallas, they have the immediate chance to make up for it against a team they know all too well.
"We know what we're seeing out there," McNabb said. "We have played each other twice a year and now we have another opportunity, so we just have to clean things up and just go out and play football."
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