mike27

While a lot is being made of the Saint's being "away" in this game, it looks like the weather is going to cooperate. I checked it for two days, and today it shows 25 degrees at game-time, and almost no wind, and no precipitation. So that should be less significant than Seattle and Carolina.

I did some stats, which makes me feel better, of course.

Philly was 10-6, with a +60 off-def, and had a schedule strength of 44.9 (115-141 w/l)percent, playing a losing schedule.

The Saint's were 11-5, with a +110, and played teams (16 games) with a schedule win percentage of 51.6 (132-124). This goes to the Saint's, probably a bigger than you would think. Divisional strength is encompassed in the strength of teams played.

I did games against common opponents played, and averaged games where one side or the other had 2 divisional rivals.

Philly7 was (3-1), with a +52 (offense-defense).

The Saint's were (4-0) with a +77.5, which again, of course goes to the Saint's.

You could glean that Philly was improving at the end, maybe. You could say the Saint's were getting worse, but I don't think that accurately portrays them. They were just a bit inconsistent, their losses to 3 big-time winning teams, and one to an 8-8 Jet's team. Add to that, losing to a deceptively good 7-9 Ram's team, with the misfortune of being in the same division as Seattle, San Francisco, and Arizona. Of course they also had 2 wins over 12-4 teams, and several of the other games were close.

People say they play bad on the road. In truth, the Saint's played most of their toughest opponents on the road. This one I think they can take--Drew should be able to shred their passing defense, our run game is looking better, and we'll have to do our best to shut theirs down.

Truth is, I think our team could win this one going away, like the recent Tampa game, or the Dallas game, slow start or not. Statistics aren't people--but they do a pretty good job of estimating potential. Be nice if you could open the doors and get that practice shed as cold as possible, so you can get used to it, find the best gloves to use too.

Good luck! I would take that 2.5 points and the Saint's every day--in fact I can't believe Philly is favored to win. They keep talking about how the Saint's have never won a road playoff game--a friend of mine used to talk about the "due factor," which meant they were "due" to win one.

It's all about believing, not thinking too much and just playing, just doing what they know how to do. If they do that, they'll be fine. All that other stuff is just crap. On final encouraging statistic--their five road losses were to teams with a collective win record of 65%, which is HUGE. And like I said, the 8-8 team and the 7-9 team weren't too shabby either.