Could voodoo, curses, or karma explain Eagles' puzzling home record?

Asante Samuel waved his arms, urging on the cheers, and Eagles fans responded. An entire section rose and roared as the Eagles put the finishing touches on a win.

The problem was, the green-clad fans were sitting in orange seats under the sunny Miami sky, not the early-winter gray of Philadelphia.

Eagles fans have had little to cheer at Lincoln Financial Field this season, where the home team is 1-5 and will try to break a three-game Philly losing streak Sunday against the Jets.

For a 5-8 team with a respectable 4-3 road mark, the Eagles' home record defies explanation. Only the 0-13 Colts are worse at home (0-6). The only other teams with just one home victory are the 2-11 Rams and Vikings.

The Eagles' home field struggles, though, aren't limited to this season. Even last year, when they went 10-6 and won the NFC East, the Eagles lost four home games and crashed out of the playoffs with a fifth loss at the Linc.

They have dropped eight of their last nine home games, including that playoff loss, and since the start of last season are 5-10 in Philadelphia.

Meanwhile, the Eagles' most thrilling recent wins have come on the road: last year's rout of the Redskins and their epic comeback against the Giants.

Eagles players know it must be frustrating to fans.

"They pay to freakin' come to every game at home, and they want to see us win," said center Jason Kelce. "If we'd just taken care of some of these games that we should have at home, we'd be sitting pretty good right now."

Several players said the team keeps the same routine at home as it does on the road. So why the different result? No one could say.

"Unexplainable," Samuel said.

It's not just the record that stings, but the horrifying ways the Eagles have lost.

Maybe there is a hex lingering in the Linc. It's as plausible an explanation as anything anyone else offered. But from where? From whom?

Some theories:

The kelly green jinx. The Eagles opened the 2010 season with a tribute to their 1960 championship team. They had a new quarterback; a new era; and classic kelly green, throwback uniforms. With old Eagles heroes watching, they endured one of the most disastrous halves of football imaginable. The Kevin Kolb era ended in less than two quarters, when the new face of the franchise was driven into the turf. Kolb and linebacker Stewart Bradley each suffered concussions, but they were allowed to return to the game temporarily. Stalwart center Jamaal Jackson tore his triceps, ending his season in what might end up being his last start at the Linc, and popular fullback Leonard Weaver suffered a gruesome knee injury, ending his career. It doesn't get much worse than that.

McNabb's revenge. The Eagles won their next two games on the road, so maybe the curse didn't fall until they welcomed back Donovan McNabb. His new Redskins team knocked out one of his heirs (Michael Vick) and shut down the other (Kolb), and McNabb ran for a critical, late first down. He hasn't had many great moments since leaving the Eagles, but McNabb won in what might have been his last start in Philly.

The spell of Joe Webb. Webb might be remembered longer here than in Minnesota. The third-string quarterback, then a rookie from Alabama-Birmingham, started against the Eagles after a snowstorm pushed a Sunday game to a Tuesday, one of the few nights in America considered unfit for football. Leading a Vikings team playing out the string and stuck on the road for two extra days, Webb, for one night, was better than Vick. The loss cost the Eagles a shot at the NFC's second seed and began a drastic decline that carried into 2011.

Akers karma. Much of the blame for last season's wild-card loss fell on longtime kicker David Akers, who missed two field goals in a five-point home defeat. Coach Andy Reid uncharacteristically singled out those misses, even though Akers was dealing with a medical crisis involving his young daughter. Maybe that bad karma remained. When Akers and his new team, the 49ers, came to town in October, the Eagles' new kicker missed two field goals, and San Francisco rallied from a 20-point deficit. Akers booted the winning extra point.

The curse of Kolb. Another ex-Eagle got revenge a few weeks later. Kolb wasn't on the field to face his old team, but perhaps he packed a voodoo doll ready for just the right moment. How else to explain how Cardinals backup quarterback John Skelton twice drove more than 80 yards to overcome fourth-quarter deficits?

Add it all up and you get a team that has played so badly that in its last home game - an ugly blowout to the Patriots - fans struck up a "Fire Andy!" chant.

The Eagles have two more tries at home to break the hex. Maybe before trying his first pass Sunday, Vick should first toss some salt over his shoulder.