Eagles news: 'Underdogs' celebrate win over Falcons in dog masks

The Philadelphia Eagles celebrated their playoff win over the Atlanta Falcons wearing dog masks in reference to the fact that they were home underdogs despite being the No. 1 seed in the NFC.

The Philadelphia Eagles entered the playoffs as the No. 1 seed in the NFC, but the betting lines were not very good to them. They were regarded by sportsbooks as home underdogs against the Atlanta Falcons in the divisional round as they became the first No. 1 seed in NFL history to be a betting underdog during their first playoff game.

Feeling disrespected by that unwanted record, a pair of Eagles players in right tackle Lane Johnson and defensive end Chris Long bought dog masks to help motivate Philly for the showdown with the Falcons, per Tim McManus of ESPN.

“Me and Chris Long were talking [at lunch], and everybody's calling us underdogs, so hey, let's go get us a dog mask,” Johnson said. “That's what we did.”

Of course, the Eagles would wound up silencing their critics with a 15-10 win against Atlanta to book a spot in the NFC Championship Game against the Minnesota Vikings. As a result, they got to bring out those dog masks during their celebrations.

Lane Johnson did his postgame interview in the dog mask 😂😂

(via @SheilKapadia, @TheAthleticPHI) pic.twitter.com/Ekv97Lp6sl

— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) January 14, 2018

Carson Wentz’s unavailability for the rest of this season has soured the public’s perception of the Eagles as Super Bowl contender. While Nick Foles is not as good as Wentz had been prior to the latter’s injury, he has nonetheless been steady under center for Philadelphia, which is once again deemed as underdogs for the upcoming matchup with the Vikings at Lincoln Financial Field on Jan. 21.

If anything, the Eagles have covered the spread three times in five games this season in which they were pegged as underdogs. It looks like Johnson and Long have to keep their dog masks on.