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The Philadelphia Eagles were one of the first teams the Atlanta Falcons ever played, and through 50 tumultuous seasons since, they've been a consistently difficult nemesis for our favorite team.
The Eagles have the edge in the all-time series, and have handed the Falcons a few lopsided losses over the years, as well. That's not overly surprising, given that the Eagles have been more successful in their history overall than the Falcons, but
Just three short years ago, the Falcons helmed by Mike Smith faced the Eagles helmed by Andy Reid. This year, these two franchises face off with drastically different players and coaches, with offensive genius Chip Kelly on the sidelines for the Eagles, and brand new defensive guru Dan Quinn for Atlanta. It'll be a damn fun game, regardless.
On to the history.
All-time Record: Eagles 17-13-1, Falcons 13-17-1
Playoff Record: 2-1, Eagles
Most Recent Game: The Falcons defeated the Eagles 30-17 at Lincoln Financial Field on October 28th, 2012. This was a memorable game both because the Falcons pulled off a somewhat surprising 13 point win, and because Eagles fans were extremely confident they'd triumph over a team they felt was playing over its head. Let's hope history repeats itself this year.
Best Game: The 1978 playoff squeaker the Falcons won 14-13. In a defensive dogfight, the Steve Bartkowski-led Falcons came back late to eke one out.
Worst Game: You'd be hard-pressed to beat the 27-10 ass kicking the Eagles gave the Falcons in the 2005 NFC Conference Championship Game, a game where the quality defense and heroics of Michael Vick that had carried the team so far faltered and then failed.
Trivia: The only Hall of Famer to play significant snaps for both teams was the legendary DE Claude Humphrey...Heading into the 2012 matchup, the Falcons had not won in Philadelphia for 20-plus years...Dan Quinn's Seattle defense limited the Eagles to a 2014 season-low 14 points last year, though that's only so relevant given that he had the Seattle defense....Chip Kelly used to work at Boston College football camps when he was a coordinator at the University of New Hampshire, where he got to know Matt Ryan well....Chip Kelly and I share an alma mater.