Why Eagles Fans Are Rooting For the Giants

It’s a good thing Eagles fans got in some quality practice time dabbling in the sacrilege earlier this season.

They’re going to need it down the stretch.

Applying some logic to the conversation in a ProFootballTalk.com  post this morning, a New York Giant Super Bowl run could benefit the Eagles greatly.  That’s right. The same exercise that seemed to get the fan base through the late-season lull that defined 2011 (you know, when you all knelt and bowed and prayed for the torpedo that might exact year-end coaching changes to hit?) could prove handy once again.

How?

Because if the Giants were to win the last game of the 2011 season, the Steve Spagnuolo effect could magnify Giants defensive coordinator Perry Fewell’s head coaching candidacy , particularly (at least
according to the blurb) in Tampa Bay. That makes sense, that the guy calling the shots for the squad credited for stymieing what’s been touted as a Top 3 Greatest Quarterbacking Season Of All Time would get a good hard look from organizations looking to give one lucky coordinator a promotion.

Same as it did for Spagnuolo in 2007.

But here’s where it gets tricky for you Eagle fans.

Considering the Giants have already stirred the pot this postseason with the win over the supposed-to-be-19-0 Packers, and given the heightened attention on the All-Time Greatness of Eli Manning (who,
for record, the New York media would love to roast in the event of the Giants first NFC Championship loss in franchise history; they’re 4-0 all-time heading into next week’s tilt with San Francisco), Perry
Fewell is already likely to get interviews – especially since his ethnic flavor would fulfill the league’s Rooney Rule obligations, which teams are increasingly hesitant to do with minority head coaching candidates with little chance of actually landing the job.

That could create an opening in New York for, you guessed it, Spagnuolo.

It should be noted: The Spagnuolo Watch hasn’t exactly materialized in New York how it has elsewhere, a pretty telling statement about his chances of returning to the team he (pretty much singlehandedly) coached up to a Super Bowl win over the then-18-0 Patriots in 2007.
The convergence of rumor and reported mutual interest have him more likely to go to Minnesota, Atlanta or here in Philly.

Per Mike Florio: “With teams like the Falcons reportedly interested and the Eagles possibly interested (if the figure out what to do with Juan Castillo), Spags could be waiting to see what happens with the
team for which he worked through 2008.”

But the simplest way to preclude the possibility of a New York reuinion?

To have the Giants win the Super Bowl.

One more time from Floors: “Of course, if the Giants win the Super Bowl, a return to New York may not be all that attractive for Spagnuolo, especially since he said just a couple weeks ago that he’d
like to help bring a title to a town that hasn’t enjoyed one recently.”

A town kind of like, say, Philadelphia.

Given the overall irrelevance of a Giant Super Bowl on Philadelphians—win or lose, would you really listen to any babbling New York bozo anyway?—and the undoubted winning potential it brings to
the 2012 Eagles, why not slide your hand into a Big Blue foam finger this (and next, and next-next-next) weekend?

That said, root away Eagle fans. Root away.

(This story was written by Matt Hammond of 973espn.com.  You can follow him on twitter @Matthammond973)