Pitfalls in facing a team that's the pits

At Southern Cal, Winston Justice said it was easy to underestimate the forthcoming opponent and admitted it happened quite often even though Trojans coach Pete Carroll would warn against it.

"In college it's different, though," Justice said. "At USC, we really did underestimate some teams because we were blowing people out."

Justice said there were a few times USC invited trouble with that attitude, then added it would be unwise to have that same approach at the highest level of the game.

"In the NFL, you can't do that," the Eagles offensive tackle said. "In the NFL, it's totally different because everyone is good. On film, at USC, the guys would actually look bad. Here, the guys all look good, but some things don't really work out."

This comes up now because the Eagles, with the exception of a Week 2 game against New Orleans, have faced a skid-row schedule that continues this afternoon against the dysfunctional Oakland Raiders at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.

Like Carroll at USC, Eagles coach Andy Reid warns his players about the dangers involved in underestimating an opponent, even one like Oakland, which has been outscored by 96-16 in its last three games.

Reid, often accused of saying nothing at his news conferences, actually revealed what he told his players Wednesday morning before they started preparations for the Raiders.

"I watched this [Oakland] team, virtually the same team, go down and play Tampa Bay last year and I don't think anyone in this room gave them a chance to beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and that directly affected our season," Reid said.

The Raiders pulled the upset in Tampa on the final day of the season, and it was the final alignment the Eagles needed to set up what amounted to a playoff game with the Dallas Cowboys at Lincoln Financial Field. Justice said Reid mentioned that Oakland game during his Wednesday morning meeting.

"I think that it's important that you take care of your business," Reid said. "If you slight that in the National Football League, then you have problems."

It's difficult to get a current player to say anything negative about a team before or after a game in the NFL, but New York Giants middle linebacker Antonio Pierce took a healthy swipe after his team clubbed the Raiders, 44-7, last Sunday. Pierce said the Raiders appeared to be playing offense at "a practice tempo" and it was "shocking" how bad they were.

Troy Vincent, who spent 15 seasons in the league, including eight with the Eagles, knows exactly what it's like when you're going against a team that you're expected to clobber.

"As a player, unfortunately there's that human side where you look at a team that is struggling and as a defensive player looking at the offensive side, you look at it as a stat game," Vincent said. "That is the player's mind-set. That's the selfish side of every individual player. You don't talk about it, but you think about it and you may even talk about it when you're with your player group."

Vincent said it's up to the coaching staff and the team leaders to make sure that the team goal of winning comes first, and he said that Reid is one of the best at stressing that point, especially when the opponent appears inferior.

"I think his record has shown that," Vincent said. "I would love to see his winning percentage versus par .500 teams. I bet you it's tremendous."

It's pretty darn good.

Since 2000, the Eagles are 60-7-1 against teams that finished the season with a losing record. They've outscored opponents in those 68 games by an average of 12.8 points. That doesn't count this season's three games against Carolina, Kansas City, and Tampa Bay, which the Eagles have won by the combined score of 105-38.

It's probably easier to remember some of the losses and that ugly tie last season in Cincinnati than it is to recall all the lopsided victories. Vincent said the key against bad teams is to put them away early and make sure you execute properly because that's what will matter when the season becomes more difficult.

"If you give bad teams any kind of momentum, you find yourself in an alley fight with two to three minutes remaining," Vincent said. "Look at that Philly-Cincy game last year. That's what happened. You let teams like that hang around and they will beat you. Teams that can avoid that, it says a lot about them."

Maybe it really does.

When the Eagles went to the Super Bowl in 2004, they went 10-0 against their opponents with losing records and they outscored them by an average of more than 14 points. They haven't been that good since against the worst the league has to offer.