Everything we heard from the Eagles leading up to Saturday afternoon's home game against the Falcons carried an air of anger, with the Eagles feeling utterly disrespected to be the first No. 1 seed ever to be an underdog at home in the Divisional Round of the NFL playoffs. Philly let loose that frustration on the Falcons, shutting out Atlanta in the second half en route to a 15-10 win that sets them up to host the NFC Championship game next weekend.
Do not be fooled: they were aware they were underdogs. Lane Johnson, who was vocal before the game about the disrespect, even walked out onto the field after the game wearing an actual dog mask.
Dog's gotta eat! #underdog #flyeaglesfly pic.twitter.com/cMePA84PR0
— Lane Johnson (@Lanejohnson65) January 14, 2018
The Eagles social media team used a couple of tweets to remind folks, including the analysts at ESPN, that unanimously picking the Falcons helped to motivate the team (even tagging @OldTakesExposed).
Appreciate the motivation.
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) January 14, 2018
(cc: @OldTakesExposed ❄)#FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/1Q0DOQ74NM
On Sunday morning, host Sam Ponder even joked "we are the reason they won." You might think the Eagles weren't paying attention to that stuff. You would be wrong. Tight end Zach Ertz said after the game he was watching TV and got miffed about the whole thing.
"I was watching ESPN today and all 5 analyists, experts they call themselves, picked the #Falcons to win. I'm glad they're not in charge of my finances by any means, picking stocks here and there. If they're going to call us underdogs again next week I'm fine with it" - Zach Ertz
— James Palmer (@JamesPalmerTV) January 14, 2018
Defensive end Chris Long also joined in on the dog-mask fun, sporting one himself.
BOWWWWWWWWW pic.twitter.com/bAWjSaOv14
— Chris Long (@JOEL9ONE) January 14, 2018
Jimmy Kempski, an intrepid Eagles reporter for PhillyVoice.com, did the leg work to figure out where the Eagles purchased the masks. Turns out, you can just buy "CreepyParty Dog Mask" on Amazon.
But, uh, actually you can't. Because Eagles fans bought so many of them after the game that the masks are sold out on Amazon now.
If you're dying to back the Eagles, really want to sport some creepy dog gear and can't find anything on Amazon, might we suggest checking out the folks at BreakingT, who created a "Philly Dogs" t-shirt to rep the Eagles upset?
Read through the feed of the Eagles players -- mostly retweeted by the team account -- and you see a clear-cut situation where the team is mad about no one believing in them.
See you guys in the doggone NFC Championship!! #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/yOGq9ezYu9
— Beau Allen (@Beau_Allen) January 14, 2018
“If you don’t believe it yet, man, go home.”#FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/9Nn6rmesxA
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) January 14, 2018
See y’all next week...just like we planned #backtowork pic.twitter.com/GHhfWXccpk
— Torrey Smith (@TorreySmithWR) January 14, 2018
They count us out , we just keep rolling #FlyEaglesFly
— Corey Clement (@CoreyClement_6) January 14, 2018
It's kind of hard to blame them. The Eagles won all year long because Carson Wentz played at an MVP level, but they were also fantastic on the defensive line and in the running game. Those two things helped to carry them to a victory on Saturday night, especially thanks to a dominating performance from the offensive line late. The Eagles kept converting third down after third down and overmatched the speedy Falcons defense.
Good news for Philly: they're likely going to be an underdog against whoever they play next week. Early odds from Vegas have them as a 4.5-point underdog against the Vikings and a 2.5-point underdog against the Saints.