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1995 Philadelphia Eagles season

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1995 Philadelphia Eagles season
OwnerJeffrey Lurie
Head coachRay Rhodes
Home fieldVeterans Stadium
Results
Record10–6
Division place2nd NFC East
Playoff finishWon Wild Card Playoffs
(vs. Lions) 58–37
Lost Divisional Playoffs
(at Cowboys) 11–30
Uniform

The 1995 Philadelphia Eagles season was their 63rd in the National Football League (NFL). The team improved upon their previous output of 7–9, going 10–6 under new head coach Ray Rhodes[1] and qualifying for the playoffs for the first time in three seasons. They would lose to the Cowboys in the Divisional round, the second time in four years.

It wasn't an auspicious start. Ricky Watters, signed as a free agent from the Super Bowl champion 49ers, infamously came up short on a pass over the middle in the Eagles' season-opening 21–6 home loss to Tampa Bay. Following the contest, when asked why he didn't commit to catching the ball and taking a hit, he replied "For who? For what?"

Three weeks later, the Eagles were thumped by a 31-point margin against the Raiders in Oakland. However, the momentum swung in a positive direction after that, as Philly won four straight and seven of their next eight to get back in the playoff hunt.

On a frigid December 10 at the Vet against the Cowboys, the Eagles defense twice stopped Emmitt Smith on 4th-and-1 in Dallas territory late in the fourth quarter of a 17–17 tie. The change of possession resulted in the game-winning field goal from Gary Anderson. A win over Arizona the next week clinched a playoff berth, but a loss against the Bears in Chicago in the season finale on Christmas Eve torpedoed any hopes of an NFC East crown, leaving the Eagles locked into the #4 seed in the NFC.

The 1995 season marked the final year that the Eagles donned their trademark Kelly green uniforms.

It was the final season with the Eagles for quarterback Randall Cunningham, who retired following the season before joining the Minnesota Vikings for the 1997 season.

Offseason

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The Eagles' training camp was held for 16th and final year at West Chester University of Pennsylvania's John A. Farrell Stadium in West Chester, Pennsylvania. The camp was about 20 miles from their home stadium in South Philadelphia. In 1996, the Eagles moved their training camp to Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, about 50 miles north of Philadelphia.

NFL draft

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The 1995 NFL draft was held April 22–23, 1995.[2] The league also held a supplemental draft after the regular draft and before the regular season.

With a 7–9 record in 1994, and tying with four other teams, the Eagles would rotate picking between the 8th pick to the 12th pick in the seven rounds. They would choose eight players in the five rounds they had picks. The Eagles would make a trade with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, for draft picks to move from 12th to 7th on the 1st round. With their 1st pick in the draft, acquired from Tampa Bay, the Eagles chose Mike Mamula a defensive end out of Boston College.

The table shows the Eagles selections and what picks they had that were traded away and the team that ended up with that pick. It is possible the Eagles' pick ended up with this team via another team that the Eagles made a trade with. Not shown are acquired picks that the Eagles traded away.

= Pro Bowler [3] = Hall of Famer
Rd PICK PLAYER POS COLLEGE
1 7 Mike Mamula
Pick Acquired from Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Defensive End Boston College
1 12 Pick Traded to Tampa Bay Buccaneers
2 50 Bobby Taylor Cornerback Notre Dame
2 58 Barrett Brooks Offensive Tackle Kansas State
3 72 Greg Jefferson Defensive end Central Florida
3 78 Chris T. Jones Wide receiver Miami (FL)
4 119 Dave Barr Quarterback California
5 pick Made by Detroit Lions
6 Pick Made by Tampa Bay Buccaneers
7 210 Kevin Bouie
Pick Acquired from Jacksonville Jaguars
Running back Mississippi State
7 248 Howard Smothers Offensive Tackle Bethune-Cookman

Staff

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1995 Philadelphia Eagles staff

Front office

Head coaches

Offensive coaches

Defensive coaches

Special teams coaches

Strength and conditioning


[4]

Roster

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1995 Philadelphia Eagles roster
Quarterbacks (QB)

Running backs (RB)

Wide receivers (WR)

Tight ends (TE)

Offensive linemen (OL)

Defensive linemen (DL)

Linebackers (LB)

Defensive backs (DB)

Special teams

Practice squad


53 active, 8 inactive, 5 practice squad Reserve


Rookies in italics

Regular season

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Schedule

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Week Date Opponent Result Record Attendance TV Time
1 September 3, 1995 Tampa Bay Buccaneers L 6–21 0–1 66,266 FOX 1:00ET
2 September 10, 1995 at Arizona Cardinals W 31–19 1–1 45,004 TNT 8:00ET
3 September 17, 1995 San Diego Chargers L 21–27 1–2 63,081 NBC 1:00ET
4 September 24, 1995 at Oakland Raiders L 17–48 1–3 48,875 FOX 4:00ET
5 October 1, 1995 at New Orleans Saints W 15–10 2–3 43,938 FOX 1:00ET
6 October 8, 1995 Washington Redskins W 37–34 (OT) 3–3 65,498 FOX 1:00ET
7 October 15, 1995 at New York Giants W 17–14 4–3 74,252 FOX 1:00ET
8 Bye
9 October 29, 1995 St. Louis Rams W 20–9 5–3 62,172 FOX 1:00ET
10 November 6, 1995 at Dallas Cowboys L 12–34 5–4 64,876 ABC 9:00ET
11 November 12, 1995 Denver Broncos W 31–13 6–4 60,842 ESPN 8:00ET
12 November 19, 1995 New York Giants W 28–19 7–4 63,562 FOX 1:00ET
13 November 26, 1995 at Washington Redskins W 14–7 8–4 50,539 FOX 1:00ET
14 December 3, 1995 at Seattle Seahawks L 14–26 8–5 39,893 FOX 4:00ET
15 December 10, 1995 Dallas Cowboys W 20–17 9–5 66,198 FOX 1:00ET
16 December 17, 1995 Arizona Cardinals W 21–20 10–5 62,076 FOX 1:00ET
17 December 24, 1995 at Chicago Bears L 14–20 10–6 52,391 FOX 1:00ET

Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries

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Week 15

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1 234Total
Cowboys 7 1000 17
• Eagles 3 386 20

[5]

NFL Network selected this game as the #5 Moment at Home in Eagles' history.

The game is known in Philadelphia as the "Groundhog Day" game. When the Cowboys didn't make a first down on their second attempt at 4th and 1 from their own 29-yard line with less than 9 minutes left in the fourth quarter, Philadelphia radio announcer Merrill Reese exclaimed: "They give it to Smith and they stop him again! They stop him again! And this time they can't take it away from the Eagles!"

Standings

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NFC East
W L T PCT PF PA STK
(1) Dallas Cowboys 12 4 0 .750 435 291 W2
(4) Philadelphia Eagles 10 6 0 .625 318 338 L1
Washington Redskins 6 10 0 .375 326 359 W2
New York Giants 5 11 0 .313 290 340 L2
Arizona Cardinals 4 12 0 .250 275 422 L4

Playoffs

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Round Date Opponent Result Attendance TV Time
Wild Card December 30, 1995 Detroit Lions W 58–37 66,099 ABC 4:00pm EST
Divisional January 7, 1996 at Dallas Cowboys L 30–11 64,371 FOX 12:30pm EST

References

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  1. ^ 1995 Philadelphia Eagles
  2. ^ "Pro Football Draft History: 1995". Pro Football Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on December 6, 2008. Retrieved September 26, 2008.
  3. ^ Players are identified as a Pro Bowler if they were selected for the Pro-Bowl at any time in their career.
  4. ^ Mulligan, Kevin (May 16, 1995). "Ackles gets power position with Birds". Philadelphia Daily News. Archived from the original on December 17, 2014. Retrieved November 8, 2014.
  5. ^ Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2014-Jul-07.
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