@FlameRaptorRaven

3mo

The 1968 Eagles: I wish tomorrow never came.

The Philadelphia Eagles are a bizarre team. They are almost always consistently good or horrifically bad. There is almost no middle-ground. They are currently in the best period of their history with 2 Super Bowls in the last decade. However, a conversation with Zach reminded me of my favourite bad Philly team of all time, the 1968 Eagles. Buckle in, there’s a lot. If you want the cliff notes version, I will give that to you right now: - The Eagles were horrendously bad despite having future hall of famer Mike Ditka and pro bowl running back Tom Woodeshick. - Their offense was 2nd worst and their defense was bottom 3 - Despite being the worst team in the NFL, they missed out on drafting 1st overall to the AFL’s Buffalo Bills who drafted star running back OJ Simpson. That^ is the general perspective. I’d argue this team is way funnier when you look at them on a deeper level. The head coach and de facto general manager of this team was a man named Joe Kuharic. Kuharic had been hired in 1964. He was initially given a 5 year contract only for the owner to turn it into a lifetime (15-year) contract shortly after. FYI, Kuharic had exactly 1 winning season in his previous 6 years as an NFL head coach and never had a winning-season at Notre fucking Dame before returning to the NFL. Imagine if the Cardinals had given Kliff Kingsbury a 15-year contract, but Kliff never coached Mahomes and was never Manziel’s OC. This move was obviously extremely unpopular. Kuharic himself is hilarious, but for bad reasons. Kuharic had a very strange way of phrasing how/why things happened. According to at least one sportswriter, Kuharic once said “that horse was from a different fire department” when explaining how his team bounced back from a halftime deficit. NFL films also has a clip of him saying “Well the gears in that guy’s mind didn’t mesh well I’ll tell ya” before drinking from a bowl of soup with a ladle. Unsurprisingly, Kuharic’s continued presence on the sideline infuriated the Philly faithful. The fact that he was under contract for so long stung even more when the Eagles became the first team in the Super Bowl era to lose their first 11 games. They were also the first team to do it since they themselves did it in 1936. However, this losing streak triggered a thought. In the college world, USC star OJ Simpson was killing defenses on the ground and would win the Heisman. So Eagles fan began to embrace the losing. As long as they lost all the games, they’d get OJ Simpson. The Eagles would play the Lions on Thanksgiving in a game that became known as the Muddy Miracle as the Eagles finally won their first game of the season. The very next week, the Eagles played the Saints and put up a season-high 29 points to win their 2nd in a row. In the span of 2 weeks, the Eagles have cost themselves the chance to draft OJ Simpson. Naturally, Philadelphia was furious and it all culminated in easily the most infamous incident from this season. In the final week of the season, the Eagles played the Bud Grant-Vikings in Franklin Field (Philly’s home stadium). There were many pissed off Philly fans in the bitter cold. At halftime, Eagles brass had the brilliant idea of having Santa prance around. They didn’t hire a mall Santa so they just grabbed a random drunk young guy dressed up as Santa and threw him onto the field. Philadelphia proceeded to boo and pelt snowballs at the Santa. The booing was so loud that the Santa in question remembered being genuinely scared. The Eagles lost and the worst season in Philly sports history ended on an incident that has stained their reputation forever. The Eagles had other issues, like injuries, but this team was doomed from the start and the way it devolved into a circus will never not be funny to me. By the way, Philadelphia would get the 3rd overall pick in the draft for this season. In that draft, the Bills took OJ 1st overall and the Falcons took tackle George Kunz 2nd overall. OJ became a hall of fame football player and a hall of shame person while Kunz was a 7-time pro bowler in 9 seasons. The Eagles took Leroy Keyes, who lasted just 4 seasons. With the very next pick, the Steelers selected Mean Joe Greene.

Eagles

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Seattles Unforgettable Run!!

After so much disappointment for the Hawks in the 2020s with Russ being traded and the weird but never forgotten Geno Smith era. The Hawks were Hoping praying even that they could just mark the playoffs in the 2025-2026 season coming with a new QB in Sam Darnold who led the vikings to a 14-3 season the last season, they hoped to get even a little sniff of that Sam Darnold. And they did in fact they got the same Darnold as the season before. At 14-3 and winning the NFC West, they headed into the playoffs with a bye and the 1st seed. Now you may ask yourself was it Sam Darnold or someone else who lifted this season up. No it was the defence. Only allowing an average of 16.8 ppg 285.9 ypg (first in the NFL) with 47 total sacks as well. In the playoffs they have classic BTA to the niners 😂 and barely escaped the Rams. But in the Super Bowl the hawks offence and Defence combined to Kill the Frauds which is the New England Patriots. With Ken Walker the 3rd winning MVP Overall WE all saw this coming Thanks Bad Bunny

@emily

The Curse Of Winning 15 Games: Part 4: Panthers

15 wins in an NFL regular season. That's pretty hard. Before the schedule expanded to 17 games, you would have to win 93.75% of your games. That' the equivalent of an MLB team winning 152 games. Yet, 9 teams have done it. First, it had to be possible. The league expanded to 16 games in 1978. Today, we visit the 2015 Carolina Panthers. 7-8-1. That was the record of the 2014 Carolina Panthers that still made the playoffs. The record of the 2014 Carolina Panthers that somehow upset the Cardinals in the wild card. And the record of the 20th season in Carolina Panthers history. However, the 21st would be much more famous. Superman... To the rescue. They started the season 14-0. The best in NFC history. They joined the 1972 Dolphins, 2007 Patriots and 2009 Colts as the only teams to start 14-0. Their BYE week was in Week 5. They might as well have been doomed to never get 15 wins. Cam Newton was playing good, but that's a long time to not get a week off. They defied the odds. All of them. Fanduel. Draftkings. The Panthers defied all of the odds and all of the people's beliefs. Week 8. Colts. They won 29-26 in overtime. Somehow. They had a pretty dominant season. There's not much to say, really. In Week 14, they beat the Falcons 38-0. But that same Atlanta Falcons team would deny their undefeated hopes 2 weeks later by beating them 20-13. In between those weeks, the Panthers almost lost to the Giants 38-35. They beat the Bucs 38-10 in Week 17 to end the dominant year 15-1. They would see the 6 seed Seahawks in their first game. And they almost lost. They almost had the same fate as the 2011 Packers. But they survived 31-24 against the defending NFC Champions. They then brutally murdered the Arizona Cardinals 49-15 in the NFC Championship game. The Carolina Panthers made the super bowl against the Denver Broncos. They had a chance. But as we all know... Cam Newton never fell on the ball.

@emily

The Curse Of Winning 15 Games: Part 3: Packers

15 wins in an NFL regular season. That's pretty hard. Before the schedule expanded to 17 games, you would have to win 93.75% of your games. That' the equivalent of an MLB team winning 152 games. Yet, 9 teams have done it. First, it had to be possible. The league expanded to 16 games in 1978. Today, we join the 2011 Packers. (Yes, I skipped the Patriots. Because 1. I hate them and 2. They won 16 games. The title is The Curse of winning 15 games, not "The Curse of Winning 15 Or More Games". Proceeded with your reading material.) The 2010 Packers just won the Super Bowl after going 10-6. Well they were about to do a lot better. Or worse, depending how you view it. The Packers would go 15-1. I've said 15-1 so many times. 15-1 is the best record for a defending champion. 19-0 is the second longest winning streak in NFL history behind the 2003-04 Patriots. 13-0 is the best start to a season by an NFC team (for now...) They went undefeated inside the division for the first time since the 1987 Chicago Bears. They scored 70 touchdowns. Tied most from a 15 win team by a certain OTHER team... They also had 51 passing touchdowns, tied second most for ANY team in NFL history with the 2004 Colts. Oh of course. Well they also surrendered 4,796 passing yards on defense. For contrast of how big that is, it's an NFL record of bad. Their BYE was in Week 8. And for a 15-1 team, it's basically perfectly placed. They beat the Saints 42-34 in Week 1. In Week 4, they beat the Broncos 49-23. In Week 6, they beat the Rams 24-3. They were 7-0 at the BYE week Week 9. They beat the Chargers 45-38. Week 10. They beat the Vikings 45-7. Week 11. Packers beat Bucs 35-26. Week 12. Packers beat Lions 27-15 on Thanksgiving Day 2011. Week 13. Packers beat Giants 38-35. Big scare. Week 14. Packers beat Raiders 46-16. Week 15. The Packers are 13-0. The Cheifs are not. But the Chiefs pull of the upset. 19-14. The only time the Packers scored less that 24 points ALL SEASON. Week 16. Packers beat the Bears on Christmas Day 35-21. Week 17. Can they fill the prophecy? Yes. New Years Day. Beating the Lions 45-41. Obviously, with a first round BYE. But here come the New York ****ing Giants. 37-20. Not even the lowest they were held to all year. But the defense couldn't keep up. And the story continues.