PHILLY SPORTS CORNER- NFL, FLYERS, SIXERS, PHILLIES

The Eagles were off this weekend  on their bye. Still, they improved in the standings.

 Dallas lost at home to Minnesota, falling into a 1st place tie with Philly at 5-4. The key game of the season will be on December 22 when the Cowboys invade the Linc to play the Birds. Since Dallas won the first meeting, the Eagles will absolutely need this game to be in the playoff picture. Dallas is 4-0 in the NFC East. The Eagles' best bet for the playoffs is to win the East. Too many good teams in the NFC to count on a wild card spot.

Right now, the playoffs look like this in the NFC:

Division Winners:

Dallas
Green Bay
New Orleans
San Francisco

Wild Cards:

Seattle
Minnesota

The Eagles could run the table and go 12-4. But that would mean beating both New England and Seattle at home in the next two weeks. 12-4 would win the NFC East ( Dallas would have at least five losses).

Would 11-5 get into the playoffs? 10-6? The Eagles beat Green Bay but lost to Minnesota, if we are talking about tie-breakers. The Seahawk game is actually a bigger game than Sundays' Patriots clash. Beating Seattle would go a long way to getting at least a wild card spot.

Beating the Pats this week keeps the train rolling and allows Philly to see where they stack up against a powerful foe. It's Tom Brady vs Carson Wentz. It's a show-down rematch of Super Bowl VII. It's a monster national game, but in the playoff scheme of things, the Seattle game next week is more important to win.

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The Flyers are red hot, winning 4 in a row and getting off to their best start in 8 years. The goalie duo of Carter Hart and Brian Elliot are both playing well so far. They are 10-5-2 overall, 5-1-1 at home. With 22 points, they are 7 points behind division-leading Washington.

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The Sixers beat Charlotte at home last night but they seemed to have a road trip hangover with a lackluster victory. Center Joel Embiid still seems out of shape, logging 18 points and 9 rebounds. After a poor Western swing, the team is 6-3.

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The Baseball General Manager Meetings begin today. Trades may be made this week, as well as free agent signings. In likely hood, this week will serve to lay the groundwork for deals later in the winter, perhaps at the Winter Meetings in December.The Phillies still seek pitching, as they have a lot of work to do this off-season for 2020.