(02-12-2022, 06:17 AM)The Real Marty Wrote:

(02-11-2022, 03:30 PM)VBE Wrote: I'm not familiar with whatever play you're referring to, I'm assuming it was a play from the AFCCG? Either way though, I don't think the Eagles would have lost LII regardless of who the opponent from the AFCCG was. I'm obviously biased, but I was supremely confident that 2017 was 'my year' (yes, mine) from the point where the Eagles kicked the 61 yard FG to beat the Giants, onward. Even after Wentz went down, I had 100% faith and confidence in Nick Foles taking the Eagles on a run that would lead all the way to the "Rocky Steps", and I'm not just saying that 'after the fact'. Members on the EMB can fully attest to that lol. 

But I'd hope that Jags fans don't hold on to a play of that sort, the way sad Cowboys fans hold on to the Dez Bryant incompletion. Every team, every year has plays that get called in such a way that you can say it was a bad call or a play that you say 'what if'. What if Randall Cunningham doesn't get hit directly on his knee by Bryce Paup, in the 1991 opener vs. the Packers? 

1991 was arguably that eras Eagles best shot at getting to and potentially winning a Lombardi. They had one of the greatest D's of all time, a QB who could pass and run (when properly coached) and a good run game. But first play of the 2nd quarter of the first game of the season, Cunningham gets his knee blown out by a helmet hitting directly on it and the season is lost. But despite having to use 5 different starting QB's throughout that season, they still finished 10-6. A lot of Eagles fans have held on to that 'what if' for a lot of years. It's meaningless, though. 

"What if's", never were.

On the "Myles Jack wasn't down" play, Myles Jack appeared to have recovered a fumble and gotten touched by a member of the Patriots when he was down, but replay showed he was still bobbling the ball when he was touched.   So technically, he wasn't down.  Then he got up and ran for a TD, but the play had been blown dead.  And you can't overturn a whistle.  

We had plenty of other chances to win that game.  We let Tom Brady complete a 19 yard pass on 3rd and 18, for example.  Just stopping that one play would have won us the game.  My memory of that game was not of the officials making a bad call.  What I remember is us allowing the Pats to come back, when we had plenty of opportunities on defense to make the one play that would have sealed the game for us. 

Would we have beaten the Eagles in the Super Bowl?  That would have meant Blake Bortles winning a Super Bowl.  Looking back on it, that seems pretty far-fetched.  

For long time Jags fans, a far more painful loss was the 1999 AFC Championship Game in our own stadium.   We went 15-3 including the playoffs that year.  We beat the Dolphins and Dan Marino/Jimmy Johnson the week prior 62-7.  Then we lost to our biggest, most hated rival, the Titans, in the AFCCG the very next week.  We lost 3 total games that season, all to the same team- the Titans.  That 1999 team was far better than the 2017 team.  That loss in the 1999 AFCCG was by far the most painful loss for me in my life.

110% agreed on the 1999 season. That was the beginning of the end for this team IMHO. You could argue that's when the "curse" or rain cloud of misery started hovering over the franchise. Went from four straight years of play-off appearances with two Championship appearances to just three play-off runs over the last 21 years. 

Pretty crazy how much this team has struggled to find that winning strategy again that instilled consistency. This is why I often praise the Pittsburgh Steelers. They stuck it out with Noll all the way from 1969 to 1991. They were the best team of the 1970's by far and wide. However, From 1980 to 1991 they only made four play off appearances. Noll had some up's and down's in the 80's. The Rooney's could have parted ways with him arguably after 1986 but they stuck it out. 

Same with Cowher. Cowher took over in 1992 and the Steelers were a pretty damn good football team six years in a row. Then they hit a wall and struggled from 1998 - 2000. Again, Rooney's could have justifiably said the last three years were pretty unexpected, time to move on, they didn't. They stuck it out and he turned it around. Tomlin also hasn't been too shabby.

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