Haason Reddick was the last player left in a stone quiet Eagles locker room late Sunday afternoon, but the deliberate manner in which he dressed himself suggested that his body might pierce the silence by creaking, like a collection of old hinges, as he moved. Pulling on a pair … of black pants … one leg at a time … flinching … as he reached … to slip his left arm into a leather jacket … sliding … his wallet … into … his back pocket.
It was a testament to the physical price that an NFL game extracts from its participants and the soreness that lingers after the clock has run out. And it was a reminder of what the Eagles had cost themselves with their 20-10 loss to the Saints, with their worst performance of what had been, and still might yet be, a special season. They had missed a chance — their second in eight days, this one against a team that had been 6-9 — to clinch first place in the NFC East, a first-round bye in the playoffs, and home-field advantage throughout the conference tournament. They had missed a chance to rest for two full weeks, to recover some from the punishment that a 17-game regular season delivers, and now they had kept alive the possibility that they will have no rest at all.
Lose to the Giants this Sunday, and the Eagles will have accomplished the impossible. They’ll be a 13-win team fading and momentum-free as they enter the postseason, and as slowly as Reddick progressed through his postgame routine, his assessment of the Eagles’ situation was that sharp and quick.
