1988 Philadelphia Eagles season

1988 Philadelphia Eagles season
1988 Philadelphia Eagles season
Owner	Norman Braman
Head coach	Buddy Ryan
Home field	Veterans Stadium
Results
Record	10–6
Division place	1st NFC East
Playoff finish	Lost Divisional Playoffs; (at Bears) 12–20
Uniform
	← 1987; Eagles seasons; 1989 →;

The 1988 Philadelphia Eagles season was the franchise's fifty-sixth season in the National Football League (NFL).

Background

This season resulted in the team's appearance in the postseason for the first time since 1981. The Eagles won the NFC East for the first time since 1980, but lost to the Chicago Bears during the NFC Divisional round during the Fog Bowl.

In control of its own destiny for a playoff berth, but not the NFC East title on the final day of the regular season, Philadelphia dumped the Dallas Cowboys, 23–7. Guaranteed a minimum of a wild card berth following a New Orleans Saints win, the team had to wait for the end to the New York Jets-New York Giants game at Giants Stadium to learn if had clinched the division or not to avoid the Wild Card round. The Jets won the game, 27–21, on a late touchdown strike from Ken O'Brien to Al Toon, giving the Eagles the NFC East crown on the tiebreaker of having beaten the Giants in both regular-season meetings.

Offseason

NFL draft

1988 Philadelphia Eagles Draft
Round	Selection	Player	Position	College
1	9	Keith Jackson	TE	Oklahoma
2	30	Eric Allen	CB	Arizona State
3	64	Matt Patchan	T	Miami (Florida)
5	122	Eric Everett	DB	Texas Tech
6	149	Don McPherson	QB	Syracuse
6	160	Rob Sterling	CB	Maine
7	176	Todd White	WR	Cal State Fullerton
8	207	David Smith	RB	Western Kentucky
10	261	Joe Schuster	DT	Iowa
11	288	Izel Jenkins	CB	North Carolina State
12	288	Steve Kaufusi	DE	BYU

Personnel

Staff

**1988 Philadelphia Eagles staff**
	Front office Owner – Norman Braman President and chief operating officer – Harry Gamble Director of player personnel – Joe Woolley Head coaches Head coach – Buddy Ryan Offensive coaches Assistant head coach/offense – Ted Plumb Quarterbacks – Doug Scovil Offensive backs – Dave Atkins Offensive line – Bill Walsh Assistant offensive line – Dan Neal			Defensive coaches Defensive coordinator/linebackers – Wade Phillips Defensive line – Dale Haupt Defensive backs – Jeff Fisher Special teams coaches Special teams – Al Roberts Strength and conditioning Strength and conditioning – Ronnie Jones

Roster

**1988 Philadelphia Eagles roster**

	Quarterbacks 6 Matt Cavanaugh 12 Randall Cunningham 9 Don McPherson Running backs 32 Walter Abercrombie 41 Keith Byars 26 Michael Haddix 35 Mark Konecny KR/PR 25 Anthony Toney Wide receivers 81 Shawn Beals WR/KR 80 Cris Carter 84 Kenny Jackson 85 Ron Johnson 82 Mike Quick Tight ends 83 Jimmie Giles 88 Keith Jackson 89 David Little LS		Offensive linemen 72 David Alexander G/LS 63 Ron Baker G 78 Matt Darwin T 73 Ron Heller T 66 Ken Reeves T/G 50 Dave Rimington C 68 Reggie Singletary G 61 Ben Tamburello G Defensive linemen 99 Jerome Brown DT 90 Mike Golic DT 97 John Klingel DE 74 Mike Pitts DT 96 Clyde Simmons DE 92 Reggie White DE		Linebackers 58 Ty Allert MLB 52 Todd Bell OLB 91 Scott Curtis OLB 56 Byron Evans MLB 53 Dwayne Jiles OLB 59 Seth Joyner OLB 55 Mike Reichenbach MLB Defensive backs 21 Eric Allen CB 42 Eric Everett CB 33 William Frizzell SS 34 Terry Hoage FS 48 Wes Hopkins FS 46 Izel Jenkins CB 20 Andre Waters SS 43 Roynell Young CB Special teams 10 John Teltschik P 8 Luis Zendejas K		Reserve lists 87 Eric Bailey TE (IRTooltip Injured reserve) 95 Doug Bartlett DT (IRTooltip Injured reserve) 77 Donald Evans DE (IRTooltip Injured reserve) 86 Gregg Garrity WR (IRTooltip Injured reserve) 94 Steve Kaufusi DE (IRTooltip Injured reserve) 57 Ron Moten LB (IRTooltip Injured reserve) 98 Joe Schuster DT (IRTooltip Injured reserve) 65 Ron Solt G (IRTooltip Injured reserve) 47 Rob Sterling S (IRTooltip Injured reserve) Practice squad None 47 active, 9 inactive Rookies in italics

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Recap
1	September 4	at Tampa Bay Buccaneers	W 41–14	1–0	Tampa Stadium	Recap
2	September 11	Cincinnati Bengals	L 24–28	1–1	Veterans Stadium	Recap
3	September 18	at Washington Redskins	L 10–17	1–2	Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium	Recap
4	September 25	at Minnesota Vikings	L 21–23	1–3	Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome	Recap
5	October 2	Houston Oilers	W 32–23	2–3	Veterans Stadium	Recap
6	October 10	New York Giants	W 24–13	3–3	Veterans Stadium	Recap
7	October 16	at Cleveland Browns	L 3–19	3–4	Cleveland Stadium	Recap
8	October 23	Dallas Cowboys	W 24–23	4–4	Veterans Stadium	Recap
9	October 30	Atlanta Falcons	L 24–27	4–5	Veterans Stadium	Recap
10	November 6	Los Angeles Rams	W 30–24	5–5	Veterans Stadium	Recap
11	November 13	at Pittsburgh Steelers	W 27–26	6–5	Three Rivers Stadium	Recap
12	November 20	at New York Giants	W 23–17 (OT)	7–5	Giants Stadium	Recap
13	November 27	Phoenix Cardinals	W 31–21	8–5	Veterans Stadium	Recap
14	December 4	Washington Redskins	L 19–20	8–6	Veterans Stadium	Recap
15	December 10	at Phoenix Cardinals	W 23–17	9–6	Sun Devil Stadium	Recap
16	December 18	at Dallas Cowboys	W 23–7	10–6	Texas Stadium	Recap

^[1]

Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Season summary

Week 1

	1	2	3	4	Total
• Eagles	21	13	7	0	41
Buccaneers	0	0	14	0	14

Date: September 4
Location: Tampa Stadium
Game attendance: 43,502
Referee: Johnny Grier
TV announcers (CBS): James Brown and Gary Fencik

^[2]

The Eagles played the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Tampa Stadium where temperatures reached 90-degrees. On the Eagles’ fourth play of the game, Bucs linebacker Kevin Murphy chased Cunningham out of the pocket, and he rolled to his left and floated a 37-yard TD to Mike Quick. The first quarter ended with the Eagles up 21 to 0 after Anthony Toney ran for a TD and Cunningham threw an 8-yard TD to Jackson. The Eagles even scored on a 38-yard TD run by safety Terry Hoage on the only carry of his 13-year career.^[3]

Week 2

	1	2	3	4	Total
• Bengals	7	7	0	14	28
Eagles	14	0	3	7	24

Date: September 11
Location: Veterans Stadium
Referee: Bob McElwee
TV announcers (NBC): Kevin Slaten and Dave Lapham

Week 3

	1	2	3	4	Total
Eagles	0	3	0	7	10
• Redskins	14	0	3	0	17

Date: September 18
Location: RFK Stadium
Referee: Jerry Markbreit
TV announcers (CBS): Verne Lundquist and Terry Bradshaw

Week 4

	1	2	3	4	Total
Eagles	0	14	0	7	21
• Vikings	10	0	7	6	23

Date: September 25
Location: Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome
Game weather: Indoors (dome)
Referee: Jim Tunney
TV announcers (CBS): Dick Stockton and Dan Fouts

Week 5

	1	2	3	4	Total
Oilers	16	0	0	7	23
• Eagles	0	20	9	3	32

Date: October 2
Location: Veterans Stadium
Referee: Dick Jorgensen
Television network: NBC

Week 6

	1	2	3	4	Total
Giants	3	0	3	7	13
• Eagles	0	14	3	7	24

Date: October 10
Location: Veterans Stadium
Referee: Fred Wyant
TV announcers (ABC): Frank Gifford and Dan Dierdorf

Week 7

	1	2	3	4	Total
Eagles	0	3	0	0	3
• Browns	3	0	6	10	19

Date: October 16
Location: Cleveland Stadium
Referee: Johnny Grier
TV announcers (CBS): Steve Zabriskie and Will McDonough

Week 8

	1	2	3	4	Total
Cowboys	17	3	3	0	23
• Eagles	0	7	3	14	24

Date: October 23
Location: Veterans Stadium
Referee: Dick Hantak
TV announcers (CBS): Verne Lundquist and Dan Jiggetts

Week 9

	1	2	3	4	Total
• Falcons	0	7	13	7	27
Eagles	3	7	0	14	24

Date: October 30
Location: Veterans Stadium
Referee: Ben Dreith
TV announcers (CBS): James Brown and Gary Fencik

Week 10

	1	2	3	4	Total
Rams	3	7	0	14	24
• Eagles	0	10	10	10	30

Date: November 6
Location: Veterans Stadium
Referee: Bob McElwee
TV announcers (CBS): Dick Stockton and Dan Fouts

Week 11

	1	2	3	4	Total
• Eagles	0	14	3	10	27
Steelers	10	6	7	3	26

Date: November 13
Location: Three Rivers Stadium
Referee: Fred Wyant
TV announcers (CBS): Tim Ryan and Dan Jiggetts

Week 12

	1	2	3	4	OT	Total
• Eagles	7	3	0	7	6	23
Giants	7	3	7	0	0	17

Date: November 20
Location: Giants Stadium
Referee: Tom Dooley
TV announcers (CBS): Pat Summerall and John Madden

Week 13

	1	2	3	4	Total
Cardinals	7	7	0	7	21
• Eagles	7	0	17	7	31

Date: November 27
Location: Veterans Stadium
Referee: Gordon McCarter
TV announcers (CBS): Tim Ryan and Dan Jiggets

Week 14

	1	2	3	4	Total
• Redskins	7	0	3	10	20
Eagles	3	13	3	0	19

Date: December 4
Location: Veterans Stadium
Referee: Ben Dreith
TV announcers (CBS): Dick Stockton and Dan Fouts

Week 15

	1	2	3	4	Total
• Eagles	21	0	0	2	23
Cardinals	0	7	7	3	17

Date: December 10
Location: Sun Devil Stadium
Referee: Pat Haggerty
TV announcers (CBS): Verne Lundquist and Terry Bradshaw

Week 16

	1	2	3	4	Total
• Eagles	0	10	7	6	23
Cowboys	7	0	0	0	7

Date: December 18
Location: Texas Stadium
Referee: Jim Tunney
TV announcers (CBS): Tim Brandt and Hank Stram

Standings

NFC East
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Philadelphia Eagles⁽³⁾	10	6	0	.625	6–2	8–4	379	319	W2
New York Giants	10	6	0	.625	5–3	9–5	359	304	L1
Washington Redskins	7	9	0	.438	4–4	6–6	345	387	L2
Phoenix Cardinals	7	9	0	.438	3–5	6–6	344	398	L5
Dallas Cowboys	3	13	0	.188	2–6	3–9	265	381	L1

Playoffs

Divisional

	1	2	3	4	Total
Eagles	3	6	3	0	12
• Bears	7	10	0	3	20

Date: December 31
Location: Soldier Field
Game start: 11:30 a.m. CST
Referee: Jim Tunney
TV announcers (CBS): Verne Lundquist and Terry Bradshaw

Known as The Fog Bowl in NFL lore, the Bears defeated the Eagles, 20–12, in a contest in which a heavy, dense fog rolled over Chicago's Soldier Field during the second quarter and cut visibility to about 15–20 yards for the rest of the game.