Top 10 Biggest Rivals of the Philadelphia Eagles

In the city of Philadelphia, the Dallas Cowboys and their fans are essentially viewed as the spawn of the anti-Christ. There is so much disdain, fury, and vitriol directed towards this team that it's borderline unhealthy.

Eagles fans have gained the reputation of being one of the most insanely passionate fan bases in all of professional sports. Sometimes, they even go to unfortunate depths to show their devotion to the Birds. I am confident when I say that most Eagles fans hate the Cowboys just as much as they love the Eagles. Knowing the intense nature of many Eagles fans, that is saying a lot.

On a personal level, I cannot stand this team. I despise their colossal arrogance and sense of elitism and entitlement despite not accomplishing anything significant for over two decades. I abhor the fact that they refer to themselves as "America's Team" despite more Americans wanting to see them fail than win. What makes you so special to represent our whole country? I'm an American, and you sure aren't my team.

I hate the star they use as their logo despite calling themselves "America's Team," and their uniforms that use three different shades of blue. I detest their overpriced monstrosity of a stadium with their self-congratulatory scoreboard that blocks punts. I loathe the fact that they repeatedly sign and keep players who have blatantly committed crimes such as domestic abuse (Dez Bryant, Ezekiel Elliott, Greg Hardy, Nate Newton, Jourdan Lewis, etc.).

I am revolted by Jerry Jones' enormous ego and feeling of superiority. I hate how much attention they get from the national media despite being a joke of a franchise that has failed to reach the NFC Championship Game since 1996. I despise their bandwagon, cocky, and obnoxious fan base who insecurely bring up "my 5 rings" despite those rings losing relevance with each annual failure.

I simply hate this team so much. My parents only taught me to hate three things in my life: racism,... more

Along with the Packers and the Bears, the Eagles and the Giants arguably have the lengthiest and most storied rivalry in all of the NFL. It is a rivalry filled with iconic plays, games, and traditions. Concrete Charlie laying out Frank Gifford, both Miracles at the Meadowlands, Lawrence Taylor using Jaws as his personal tackling dummy, Randall Cunningham's Monday Night Football evasion, Jason Sehorn's cartwheel pick-six, Brian Westbrook's punt return, the epic line battles between Michael Strahan and Jon Runyan, Jake Elliott's 61-yard game-winning field goal - the list just goes on and on.

In a way, it's a shame that the rivalry has cooled off a bit in recent years due to the Eagles' dominance over Big Blue. The Giants have also replaced the Browns as the laughingstock of the NFL due to their behind-the-scenes drama, trading a transcendent receiving talent in Odell Beckham Jr. for essentially nothing, their unexplainable belief that Eli Manning is still a starting quarterback in today's NFL, and selecting Daniel Jones (a quarterback who was projected to be taken in the second or third round) sixth overall in the 2019 draft over guys like defensive stud Josh Allen and a much more NFL-ready quarterback, Dwayne Haskins.

On second thought, it's not a shame what's happened here. It's great and hilarious.

The Redskins and Eagles don't have nearly as much animosity towards each other as they do with the other teams in their division. Every team and fan base seems to hate one another in the NFC East except for the Eagles-Redskins. Don't get me wrong. Eagles fans don't like the Redskins, but this comes more from the fact that they play in the same division and have a lengthy history between the two franchises. They kind of dislike one another by default.

Unlike the Cowboys and Giants, there has been very little postseason history between the two teams, with only one playoff game being a 1990 Wild Card game that Washington won. And the "Body Bag Game" will forever live in Eagles folklore. Mainly, it's difficult for me to actually hate the Redskins because they have not been a well-run organization for most of my lifetime. I was born in 1998, and since then, they have only won two playoff games. It's hard to get all up in arms over such a small threat when there are two greater evils to deal with in your division.

I do have to add that it's always fun to poke fun at Dan Snyder, and the South Park episode mocking the loss of their trademark was hilarious.

Most of the animosity between these teams is very recent. It can be traced to one game in particular: the 2017 NFC Championship. The Vikings were flying high after defeating the Saints in The Minneapolis Miracle, one of the most insane and unlikely victories in the history of sports. With their confidence riding high, all they had to do was defeat a weakened Eagles team down to their backup quarterback to play in their first Super Bowl in over 40 years. The game was even being played in their shiny new stadium to boot.

Vikings fans showed up cocky and confident, doing the SKOL chant on the Rocky steps and dressing his statue (a symbol of the city's fighting spirit) in purple. A great, well-contested game between two juggernauts seemed to be on the horizon. That's what everyone predicted, at least. In reality, Minnesota didn't even show up to the game. They were utterly dominated in one of the most humiliating defeats in NFL history, giving up 38 unanswered points to close the game and essentially rolling over and begging for mercy on national TV.

Since then, Vikings fans have sworn to make the Eagles pay for what they did to them. They've gotten off to a great start by losing the final Wild Card spot to them last season. The Vikings have also never defeated the Eagles in a playoff game, so there's that as well.

The Eagles and Patriots are one of only seven combinations of teams to play one another in multiple Super Bowls. For reference, the others are Steelers-Cowboys, Redskins-Dolphins, 49ers-Bengals, Cowboys-Bills, Giants-Patriots, and Patriots-Rams. For the most part, this "rivalry" is built upon the importance of each of those games in the history of the Eagles franchise.

Super Bowl 39 saw Andy Reid's team finally get over the hump and reach the big game, only to come up short to the Pats, who had solidified themselves as a dynasty. Thirteen years later, the Birds managed to return the favor by defeating New England amidst them being in another era of Super Bowl dominance with the same exact QB and head coach.

The Patriots will always have an important place in the history of the Philadelphia Eagles, seeing as how the franchise's first Super Bowl championship came as a result of defeating them. Knowing that we defeated arguably the best player, coach, and franchise in NFL history to win our first Super Bowl makes that win all the sweeter.

Believe it or not, the Eagles and Cardinals played in the same division at one point. For 32 seasons, from 1970 to 2001, the Cardinals were a member of the NFC East alongside the Eagles, Giants, Cowboys, and Redskins. Over that time, they moved from St. Louis to Phoenix to become the Phoenix Cardinals, which later became the Arizona Cardinals.

Despite being in the same division, the Eagles and Cardinals were never really seen as adversaries outside of a few scuffles between Bill Bergey and Conrad Dobler in the 1970s. You could argue that during their NFC East span, the Cardinals were probably the worst franchise in the NFL. In 32 seasons, they only made the playoffs four times, won just one playoff game, had only six winning seasons, and went through 12 different head coaches. Not really a compelling division rival.

Ironically, the Eagles and Cardinals became more adversarial after the Cardinals moved to the more geographically appropriate NFC West. The two teams clashed in a memorable NFC Championship Game in 2008, where the Cardinals came out on top, leaving a 10-year-old me inconsolable. Over the next decade, Arizona became an enormous thorn in the Eagles' side, going 4-2 in their next matchups, with Larry Fitzgerald having a dominating game each and every time.

The rivalry between these two teams has only really achieved relevance since the turn of the 21st century. The Eagles and the Saints have squared off in three playoff games in the past 15 years: 2006, 2013, and 2018. Guess who won all three of those games? Unfortunately, the Saints did.

I'm not really a big fan of the Saints as a result. Their Bountygate scandal was a stain on pro football, and I really can't stand Sean Payton. The guy just gets on my nerves with his unbridled arrogance and douchebag demeanor. Nothing much to say here. This team has just been a thorn in Eagles fans' sides for a long time.

To quote the best sports YouTuber UrinatingTree, "Only a brick wall can stop you. Its name is the Eagles." You know how the Saints have always been a thorn in the Eagles' side and never seem to be able to beat them in big games? Yeah, the exact opposite is true for the Eagles and the Falcons.

The Falcons have repeatedly come up short against the Eagles in big games, such as in the 2002 playoffs, 2004 NFC Championship Game, 2017 playoffs, and the 2018 Kickoff Game. The last two games on that list the Falcons lost in basically the exact same way.

The Bears and the Birds have played in four playoff games and have an evenly matched record of 2-2. However, each team has a particular heartbreaking moment from their playoff matchups. The Eagles weren't able to overcome the massive layer of fog over Soldier Field in the 1988 playoffs, and the Bears fell victim to a double doink thirty years later off the foot of Cody Parkey.

These are two tough franchises known for their physical play and bruising players on both sides of the ball. They hail from the two largest blue-collar cities in the country. Despite enduring many layers of heartbreak at the other team's hand, there's a lot of camaraderie between these two teams.

The Dolphins are not liked in Philly because the Eagles have lost more to them than the Dolphins have to them.