The Eagles have to put Sunday's loss to the Dallas Cowboys in the rear-view mirror. And they must do so in a hurry.
The Eagles will return to Cowboys Stadium on Saturday to take on Dallas in a rematch during Wild Card weekend (8 PM, NBC). Dallas' win gave them the NFC East title and Green Bay's win over Arizona secured the No. 5 seed for the Packers.
"It's a normal week for us," said linebacker Jeremiah Trotter. "Obviously, it will be the third time. There will be much more film to watch. I remember a few years back when we played the Giants three times in one year. We're going to get back in the meeting room, figure out what beat us and make sure it doesn't happen next week."
It's not the first time the Eagles played the same opponent in the final week of the regular season and again in the first weekend of the playoffs. The Eagles closed out the 2001 regular season with a loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a game that had no impact on the playoff seeding. One week later, in the Wild Card round, the Eagles routed the Bucs 31-9 to begin a playoff run that would culminate in the first NFC title game appearance of the Andy Reid era.
"We just have to come out and do what we've always done and that's play Eagles football," fullback Leonard Weaver said. "We can't worry about convincing anyone right now (that we can beat Dallas). We have to get back to the playbook. We have to get back to the drawing board and correct the mistakes.
"It's going to start with us as individuals, myself included, so I think we have to go back to the drawing board and fix what we have to fix."
One player who was looking forward to the first-round bye was linebacker Will Witherspoon, who did not have a bye week during the regular season. Remember, he was traded to Philadelphia midseason from the St. Louis Rams.
Witherspoon isn't concerned now with the bye. He wants to help keep the team's season alive.
"It's more important to keep things going for this team," Witherspoon said. "I have plenty of time in the off-season for my body to take time off."
-- Posted by Chris McPherson, 10:55 p.m., January 4
