PHILADELPHIA – Can't win without a franchise quarterback, right?
Tell that to Ben Roethlisberger, Matt Ryan and Drew Brees. They should have time to talk since they just got bounced from the playoffs by Blake Bortles, Nick Foles and Case Keenum.
"Yeah, you look at the conference title games this week and it's a different kind of year," said Eagles linebacker Bryan Braman, who played with Keenum in Houston and is now teammates with Foles.
"[Tom] Brady has five Super Bowl rings, and the other three quarterbacks still left in the tourney hardly have three playoff wins."
That's not true. The other three have four playoff wins.
Some of us still beating the it's-a-team-game drum in a sea of Fantasy Footballers kind of like the possibility of Super Bowl LII featuring Bortles and Jacksonville's second-ranked defense against Keenum and the Vikings' top-ranked defense or Foles and the Eagles' fourth-ranked defense.
"What I notice about this postseason is the defensive side of the ball," said Beau Allen, an Eagles defensive tackle who grew up a Packers fan in Minnetonka. "I think we have four of the best defenses in the NFL still in the playoffs."
The Patriots rank 29th in yards allowed, but are fifth in fewest points allowed (18.5). The Vikings rank first in that category (15.8), while the Jaguars are second (16.8) and the Eagles fourth (18.4).
Meanwhile, at the quarterback position, we've never seen such lopsided experience as what we'll see this weekend.