The 1996 season was the Philadelphia Eagles' sixty-fourth in the National Football League (NFL). The team matched its 10–6 record from the previous season and qualified for the playoffs for the second year in a row.
Background After a season-ending injury to Rodney Peete, Ty Detmer took over the starting role. For the second time in three seasons, the Eagles stood at 7–2 at the nine-game mark, thanks to a fan-thrilling win November 3 on the road against Dallas. The cap to that contest was a combined 104-yard interception return between James Willis and Troy Vincent during the game's final moments, which turned a potential game-winning drive by the Cowboys into a Philadelphia victory.
But, as it did in 1994 under Rich Kotite, the team wilted. This time, after piling up four losses in five games, including an embarrassing 27-point setback on national TV at Indianapolis, the team scrambled in the playoff picture. Wins against the Jets and Cardinals managed to right the ship, however, resulting in a wild-card matchup with the San Francisco 49ers. Despite that success, the Eagles' season ended in San Francisco with a 14–0 first-round loss to the 49ers.
The 1996 season was also the first season the Eagles debuted the midnight green, white, and black look, with new helmet designs and the logo and endzone font as well.
Offseason The Eagles held training camp for the first year at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, home of the Lehigh Mountain Hawks.
The Eagles signed college free agent Hollis Thomas, a defensive tackle out of Northern Illinois, and also signed former Miami Dolphins cornerback Troy Vincent as a free agent.
Veteran San Francisco 49ers offensive tackle Steve Wallace was signed via free agency to a one-year contract, but after a poor showing in the preseason was cut at the end of training camp and promptly re-signed by the 49ers.
NFL draft The 1996 NFL draft was held April 20–21, 1996. No teams elected to claim any players in the supplemental draft that year.
With a 10–6 record in 1995, and tying with two other teams, the Eagles rotated picking between the twenty-third pick to the twenty-fifth pick during the seven-round draft and chose eight players in the six rounds in which it had picks. During its first pick, the Eagles chose Jermane Mayberry, an offensive tackle from Texas A&M-Kingsville.
The table below shows the Eagles selections, what picks it had that were traded away, and the teams that ended up with those picks. (It is possible that Eagles' picks ended up with those team via trades made by the Eagles with other teams.)
Staff
Roster
Regular season
Schedule Week Date Opponent Result Network TV Announcers Kickoff (ET) Attendance 1 September 1, 1996 at Washington Redskins W 17–14 FOX Pat Summerall & John Madden 1:00pm 53,415 2 September 9, 1996 at Green Bay Packers L 13–39 ABC Al Michaels, Frank Gifford & Dan Dierdorf 9:00pm 60,666 3 September 15, 1996 Detroit Lions W 24–17 FOX Dick Stockton & Matt Millen 1:00pm 66,007 4 September 22, 1996 at Atlanta Falcons W 33–18 TNT Verne Lundquist & Pat Haden 8:00pm 40,107 5 September 30, 1996 Dallas Cowboys L 19–23 ABC Al Michaels, Frank Gifford & Dan Dierdorf 9:00pm 67,201 6 Bye 7 October 13, 1996 at New York Giants W 19–10 FOX Dick Stockton & Matt Millen 4:00pm 72,729 8 October 20, 1996 Miami Dolphins W 35–28 NBC Marv Albert & Sam Wyche 1:00pm 66,240 9 October 27, 1996 Carolina Panthers W 20–9 FOX Kevin Harlan & Jerry Glanville 1:00pm 65,982 10 November 3, 1996 at Dallas Cowboys W 31–21 FOX Pat Summerall & John Madden 1:00pm 64,952 11 November 10, 1996 Buffalo Bills L 17–24 NBC Charlie Jones & Randy Cross 1:00pm 66,613 12 November 17, 1996 Washington Redskins L 21–26 FOX Pat Summerall & John Madden 1:00pm 66,834 13 November 24, 1996 at Arizona Cardinals L 30–36 FOX Joe Buck & Bill Maas 4:00pm 36,175 14 December 1, 1996 New York Giants W 24–0 FOX Kevin Harlan & Jerry Glanville 1:00pm 51,468 15 December 5, 1996 at Indianapolis Colts L 10–37 ESPN Mike Patrick & Joe Theismann 8:00pm 52,689 16 December 14, 1996 at New York Jets W 21–20 FOX Dick Stockton & Matt Millen 12:30pm 29,176 17 December 22, 1996 Arizona Cardinals W 29–19 FOX Kenny Albert & Tim Green 1:00pm 63,658 Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.
Game summaries
Week 10
Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2013-Dec-30.
Standings
Postseason
Schedule Round Date Opponent (seed) Result Record Venue Recap Wild Card December 29, 1996 San Francisco 49ers (4) L 0–14 0–1 3Com Park Recap Game summaries NFC Wild Card Playoffs: at (4) San Francisco 49ers
References
External links 1996 Philadelphia Eagles at Pro-Football-Reference.com