Philly What Ifs: What If Miracle at the Meadowlands II Never Happened?

NFL Network recently replayed The Miracle at the New Meadowlands II game, one of the most epic games in football regular season history. Despite not being a playoff game, this was considered the most iconic win in Philadelphia Eagles history until Super Bowl LII. Their incredible comeback with under eight minutes left in regulation and DeSean Jackson’s jaw-dropping walk-off punt return touchdown redefined the infamous Eagles and Giants rivalry. No matter how hard the Giants tried, the Birds could always find a way to pull a miracle from out of nowhere.

But what if the Miracle didn’t happen?

If the Eagles waved the flag down 31-10 with 8 minutes left in the game or if their comeback fell just short, or if Matt Dodge didn’t punt it to DeSean Jackson and the Giants won, what happens instead?

What people forget is that it was all downhill from there for the Eagles. Immediately after that game was the stupid Vikings game that had to be delayed to Tuesday because of a major blizzard. The fun 2010 Eagles went on to lose at home to the eventual Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers in the NFC Wild Card Game. The potential the Eagles showed with the Miracle led to the construction of the Dream Team. That led to disaster in 2011 and in 2012 the Andy Reid Era finally came to an end with a 4-12 season. Followed by the initial success and disaster that was Chip Kelly. And finally leading to Howie Roseman 2.0, Doug Pederson, Carson Wentz, Nick Foles 2.0 and BOOM: Super Bowl Champions. In a way the Miracle at the New Meadowlands began a chain reaction that eventually led to the 2017.

If said Miracle didn’t happen?

Despite showing flashes of offensive brilliance, the Eagles likely finish the 2010 season with a 9-7 record. Michael Vick probably doesn’t get a six year, $100 million contract and instead has to prove himself again in 2011. The front office makes some moves, but not as much as they did in creating the Dream Team.

Coach Andy Reid enters his thirteenth season as Eagles head coach a bit on the hot seat. Reid had never missed the playoffs in back-to-back seasons as head coach, but now questions arise as to what will it take for him to keep his job. Not to mention that the Philly media and fans were already sick of him by this point.

Since the Eagles with the Dream Team were still an 8-8 disaster, this lesser version of the 2011 team is slightly worse with about 6 or 7 wins. Vick can’t recapture the magic and is injured and leaves the team for a lesser contract in the offseason. After missing the playoffs in back-to-back seasons for the first time in his 13 year tenure and pressure from the fans and media, the Eagles and Andy Reid mutually agree to part ways. Jeff Lurie and company look to revitalize the Eagles with a new voice going into the 2012 season.

The crop of new NFL head coaches in 2012 are not great. Romeo Crennel, Mike Mularkey, Jeff Fisher, Joe Philbin, Dennis Allen, Chuck Pagano and Greg Schiano were all hired that year. None of them are NFL head coaches today. Chip Kelly was coming off a win at the Rose Bowl as head coach of the Oregon Ducks, who knows if the Eagles wanted and were able to hire him at that time?

No Andy Reid also means the Eagles draft is going to be different. Potentially meaning that Fletcher Cox, Vinny Curry and Nick Foles are not drafted by Philadelphia in 2012. The likely outcome of this alternative scenario is that the Eagles go forward with their new head coach as a middle-of-the-road team before blowing things up and starting over a few years later. Will this align with them hiring Doug Pederson or Carson Wentz in 2016? Maybe they go with Jameis Winston or Marcus Mariota in 2015. Or maybe in 2017 they take Patrick Mahomes, or Deshaun Watson…but in reality they take Mitchell Trubisky.

Now that the Eagles scenario without the Miracle at the New Meadowlands has been exhausted, what about their opponents for that game?

If you look at the history of the New York Giants, their success tends to come when rebounding from bad losses to the Eagles:

Chuck Bednarik’s hit on Frank Gifford in 1960 led to the Giants acquiring Y.A. Tittle and three consecutive NFL title game appearances (although they won none of them.)

The first Miracle at the Meadowlands in 1978 was the rock bottom for the Giant franchise which led to George Young, Bill Parcells, Lawrence Taylor and others arriving to bring New York two Super Bowls.

Losing to the Eagles in the 2006 playoffs put Giants head coach Tom Coughlin on the hot seat, forcing him to make adjustments in coaching his players and propelling New York to one of the most remarkable Super Bowl runs of all-time.

So as usual the devastating loss to the Eagles in 2010 motivated to the team to come back and win the Super Bowl the very next year. If the miracle didn’t happen?

The Giants instead win the NFC East with an 11-5 record instead of 10-6. What’s interesting is that while the Eagles had to play the Wild Card game at 10-6, New York would actually get a 1st round bye at 11-5. That year the Giants beat the Chicago Bears, the team that actually got the 2nd round bye in 2010, and would’ve had the edge. So instead the Bears host the Green Bay Packers in the Wild Card game (where they probably lose just like they did in the 2010 NFC Championship Game.) The Giants host and likely defeat the 7-9 Seattle Seahawks who upset the New Orleans Saints the previous week with The Beastquake. The Packers beat the top seeded Atlanta Falcons that year so that means they go to the Meadowlands to play the Giants in the NFC Championship Game.

Who knows what would’ve happened in that game? Eli Manning and the Giants upset the Packers in the 2007 and 2011 playoffs at Lambeau field, but could they have done it at home? The 2010 Packers proved they were Road Warriors having won all of their playoff games away from home. Green Bay also defeated New York in Week 16 that season. It’s uncertain who would win, but it means the Giants potentially play in Super Bowl XLV against the Pittsburgh Steelers and Aaron Rodgers may never get to the Super Bowl.

While the Miracle at the New Meadowlands turned out to be more of an ending of an era for the Eagles, it at least laid the path that ultimately led to the Super Bowl championship seven years later. Brent Celek and Jason Peters are both in great place in Eagles history as the two players who link the Miracle at the New Meadowlands and Super Bowl LII.