1996 Philadelphia Eagles season
OwnerJeffrey Lurie
Head coachRay Rhodes
Home fieldVeterans Stadium
Results
Record10–6
Division place2nd NFC East
Playoff finishLost Wild Card Playoffs
(at 49ers) 0–14
Pro BowlersRB Ricky Watters
WR Irving Fryar
DE William Fuller

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.[1][2]

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.)

1996 Philadelphia Eagles draft
Round Pick Player Position College Notes
1 25 Jermane Mayberry *  OT Texas A&M-Kingsville
2 54 Jason Dunn  TE Eastern Kentucky
2 61 Brian Dawkins * †  FS Clemson Compensatory pick
3 85 Bobby Hoying  QB Ohio State
4 121 Ray Farmer  DB Duke
5 147 Whit Marshall  LB Georgia
6 194 Steve White  DE Tennessee
6 197 Tony Johnson  TE Alabama
      Made roster    †   Pro Football Hall of Fame    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

Staff

1996 Philadelphia Eagles staff

Front office

  • Owner/Chief Executive Officer – Jeffrey Lurie
  • Senior Vice President of Administration – Joe Banner
  • Director of Football Operations – Dick Daniels
  • Director of College Scouting – John Wooten
  • Director of Scouting – Chuck Banker

Head coaches

Offensive coaches

Defensive coaches

Special teams coaches

Strength and conditioning

  • Strength and Conditioning – Mike Wolf
  • Assistant Strength and Conditioning – Tom Kanavy
  • Part-Time Strength and Conditioning – Martin Streight
  • Volunteer Strength and Conditioning – Kevin Tolbert

Roster

1996 Philadelphia Eagles roster
Quarterbacks

Running backs

Wide receivers

Tight ends

Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

Linebackers

Defensive backs

Special teams

Reserve lists


Practice squad

53 active, 3 inactive, 5 practice squad


Rookies in italics

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 39–13 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 23–19 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 24–17 NBC Charlie Jones & Randy Cross 1:00pm 66,613
12 November 17, 1996 Washington Redskins L 26–21 FOX Pat Summerall & John Madden 1:00pm 66,834
13 November 24, 1996 at Arizona Cardinals L 36–30 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 37–10 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

1 234Total
• Eagles 7 7710 31
Cowboys 7 338 21
Scoring summary
Q1DALEmmitt Smith 1 yard run (Chris Boniol kick)DAL 7–0
Q1PHIRicky Watters 5 yard run (Gary Anderson kick)Tie 7–7
Q2DALChris Boniol 19 yard field goalDAL 10–7
Q2PHITy Detmer 6 yard run (Gary Anderson kick)PHI 14–10
Q3DALChris Boniol 37 yard field goalPHI 14–13
Q3PHIIrving Fryar 14 yard pass from Ty Detmer (Gary Anderson kick)PHI 21–13
Q4DALEmmitt Smith 7 yard run (Eric Bjornson pass from Troy Aikman)Tie 21–21
Q4PHIGary Anderson 30 yard field goalPHI 24–21
Q4PHITroy Vincent 90 yard interception return (Gary Anderson kick)PHI 31–21

[3]

Standings

NFC East
W L T PCT PF PA STK
(3) Dallas Cowboys 10 6 0 .625 286 250 L1
(5) Philadelphia Eagles 10 6 0 .625 363 341 W2
Washington Redskins 9 7 0 .563 364 312 W1
Arizona Cardinals 7 9 0 .438 300 397 L1
New York Giants 6 10 0 .375 242 297 L2

Playoffs

Round Date Opponent Result Network Kickoff (ET) Attendance
Wild Card December 29, 1996 at San Francisco 49ers L 14–0 FOX 4:00pm 56,460

References

  1. ^ "Eagles Land 49ers' Veteran Steve Wallace". Associated Press. April 19, 1996. Retrieved July 12, 2021.
  2. ^ Frank, Reuben. "10 former Eagles you may have forgotten won Super Bowls". NBC Sports Philadelphia. Retrieved July 12, 2021.
  3. ^ Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2013-Dec-30.

External links

Philadelphia Eagles
Philadelphia Eagles seasons
1996 NFL season
Categories