The most notorious one-man gang in the NFL proved not to be so after all. The Philadelphia Eagles are 3-0 without Donovan McNabb, 9-0 in their conference and in prime position to snare home-field advantage for the playoffs.
How big is a first-round bye to the Eagles?
McNabb, their franchise quarterback, needs all the rehab time he can get, both for his broken right ankle and the offense.
And if the Eagles expect to be in San Diego for the 37th Super Bowl on Jan. 26, they're going to need McNabb back in the driver's seat.
They survived two West Coast games in 14 days with Koy Detmer and A.J. Feeley playing quarterback, but they probably won't be able to navigate through the postseason maze without McNabb.
The Eagles hope to get him back for the playoffs. Regardless of when McNabb returns, they have shown they are much more than a one-man team with wins over the San Francisco 49ers, St. Louis Rams and Seattle Seahawks.
"Behind Donovan, there are some very good football players on this team," coach Andy Reid said during yesterday's news conference. "They understand that they are a team; they always have. Their defenses are one of the top defenses in the league since we have been here. The offense has grown with Donovan.
"It's a team effort. I think the guys within the team understand that; I think Donovan understands that more than anybody. That's his personality. He doesn't let any of the outside accolades pump his head up."
It's safe to say the rest of the league expected the Eagles to falter, if not collapse, without McNabb down the stretch. That they haven't only strengthens their Super Bowl case when he does return. And it's a pretty strong case.
The Eagles hold the No. 1 seed in the NFC after Week 14 with a 10-3 record. They hold tiebreakers over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (10-3) and 49ers (9-4), both of whom they've beaten.
Their 9-0 conference record gives them the edge over the Green Bay Packers (10-3).
Philadelphia is eighth in the league in offense, fifth in defense. No other contender in the NFC approaches that balance. The Bucs have the No. 1 defense, but are 22nd in offense. Green Bay is ninth in offense and 13th in defense, but the Packers are 29th against the run, a key element in any playoff run.
San Francisco? The 49ers are seventh in offense, 20th in defense.
Scheduling in December favors the NFC South teams, oddly enough. The New Orleans Saints have the easiest remaining schedule, followed by the Bucs and Atlanta Falcons. The Saints' opponents - Minnesota, at Cincinnati, Carolina - combine for a .231 winning percentage. The Bucs have road trips to Detroit and Chicago around a Monday night home game with Pittsburgh.
The Eagles finish out the regular season against their NFC East rivals: Washington, at Dallas, at the New York Giants, who are a combined .436.
The 49ers (.513) and Packers (.564) have tougher closing schedules.
The Giants, with barely an outside chance to snag a wild-card spot, have the toughest schedule (.590) of any NFC contender.
In McNabb's absence, other Eagles have stepped up. Feeley has thrown for 371 yards, two touchdowns and one interception in his two wins. Wide receiver Todd Pinkston led the team in receiving the past three games with 16 catches on a 15.4-yard average gain. In Sunday's 27-20 win at Seattle, running back Duce Staley rushed for 100 yards.
Seattle was a so-called "trap" game for the Eagles, because they were traveling across the country to play a losing team after two emotional wins. They deftly avoided a letup.
"The character of the players, they understand what's at stake," Reid said. "When you're a good football team, you want to play well every week. ... That's the kind of guys we have here, and they'll do that."