1995 Philadelphia Eagles season

The 1995 Philadelphia Eagles season was their 63rd in the National Football League (NFL). The team improved upon their previous output of 7–9, going 10–6 under new head coach Ray Rhodes^[1] and qualifying for the playoffs for the first time in three seasons.

1995 Philadelphia Eagles season
Owner	Jeffrey Lurie
Head coach	Ray Rhodes
Home field	Veterans Stadium
Results
Record	10–6
Division place	2nd NFC East
Playoff finish	Won Wild Card Playoffs (vs. Lions) 58–37 Lost Divisional Playoffs (at Cowboys) 11–30
Uniform
← 1994 Eagles seasons 1996 →

It wasn't an auspicious start. Ricky Watters, signed as a free agent from the Super Bowl champion San Francisco, infamously came up short on a pass over the middle in the Eagles' season-opening 21–6 home loss to Tampa Bay. Following the contest, when asked why he didn't commit to catching the ball and taking a hit, he replied "For who? For what?"

Three weeks later, the Eagles were thumped by a 31-point margin against the Raiders in Oakland. However, the momentum swung in a positive direction after that, as Philly won four straight and seven of their next eight to get back in the playoff hunt.

On a frigid December 10 at the Vet against the Cowboys, the Eagles defense twice stopped Emmitt Smith on 4th-and-1 in Dallas territory late in the fourth quarter of a 17–17 tie. The change of possession resulted in the game-winning field goal from Gary Anderson. A win over Arizona the next week clinched a playoff berth, but a loss at Chicago in the season finale on Christmas Eve torpedoed any hopes of an NFC East crown. Thus, the Eagles were locked into the #4 seed in the NFC.

The 1995 season marked the final year that the Eagles donned their trademark Kelly green uniforms.

It was the final season with the Eagles for quarterback Randall Cunningham as he retired following the season before joining the Vikings for the 1997 season.

Offseason

The Eagles' training camp was held for 16th and final year at West Chester University of Pennsylvania's John A. Farrell Stadium in West Chester, Pennsylvania. The camp was about 20 miles from their home stadium in south Philadelphia. In 1996 the Eagles would move to Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania about 50 miles away.

NFL draft

The 1995 NFL Draft was held April 22–23, 1995.^[2] The league also held a supplemental draft after the regular draft and before the regular season.

With a 7–9 record in 1994, and tying with four other teams, the Eagles would rotate picking between the 8th pick to the 12th pick in the seven rounds. They would choose eight players in the five rounds they had picks. The Eagles would make a trade with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, for draft picks to move from 12th to 7th on the 1st round. With their 1st pick in the draft, acquired from Tampa Bay, the Eagles chose Mike Mamula a defensive end out of Boston College.

The table shows the Eagles selections and what picks they had that were traded away and the team that ended up with that pick. It is possible the Eagles' pick ended up with this team via another team that the Eagles made a trade with. Not shown are acquired picks that the Eagles traded away.

= Pro Bowler ^[3]

= Hall of Famer

Rd	PICK	PLAYER	POS	COLLEGE
1	7	Mike Mamula Pick Acquired from Tampa Bay Buccaneers	Defensive End	Boston College
1	12	Pick Traded to Tampa Bay Buccaneers
2	50	Bobby Taylor	Cornerback	Notre Dame
2	58	Barrett Brooks	Tackle	Kansas State
3	72	Greg Jefferson	Defensive end	Central Florida
3	78	Chris T. Jones	Wide receiver	Miami (FL)
4	119	Dave Barr	Quarterback	California
5		pick Made by Detroit Lions
6		Pick Made by Tampa Bay Buccaneers
7	210	Kevin Bouie Pick Acquired from Jacksonville Jaguars	Running back	Mississippi State
7	248	Howard Smothers	Offensive Tackle	Bethune-Cookman

Staff

1995 Philadelphia Eagles staff

	Front office Owner – Jeffrey Lurie Vice President – Joe Banner Director of Football Administration – Bob Ackles Director of College Scouting – John Wooten Director of Pro Personnel – Chuck Banker Head coaches Head Coach – Ray Rhodes Offensive coaches Offensive Coordinator – Jon Gruden Running Backs – Dick Jamieson Wide Receivers – Gerald Carr Tight Ends – Ted Williams Offensive Line – Bill Callahan Offensive Assistant – Juan Castillo			Defensive coaches Defensive Coordinator – Emmitt Thomas Defensive Line – Mike Trgovac Linebackers – Joe Vitt Defensive Assistant – Chuck Knox Jr. Special teams coaches Special Teams – Danny Smith Strength and conditioning Strength and Conditioning – Mike Wolf Assistant Strength and Conditioning – Paul Ricci Assistant Strength and Conditioning – Tom Kanavy Part-Time Strength and Conditioning – Martin Streight

^[4]

Roster

1995 Philadelphia Eagles roster

	Quarterbacks 12 Randall Cunningham 11 Jay Fiedler  9 Rodney Peete Running backs 30 Charlie Garner KR 41 Fred McCrary FB 22 James Saxon 32 Ricky Watters 31 Derrick Witherspoon KR Wide receivers 86 Fred Barnett 81 Rob Carpenter PR 82 Chris T. Jones 83 Art Monk -- Freddie Solomon 89 Calvin Williams Tight ends -- Rickey Brady 88 Jimmie Johnson 80 Reggie Johnson 83 Ed West		Offensive linemen 69 Harry Boatswain G 76 Barrett Brooks T 68 Frank Cornish C 78 Antone Davis T 65 Mo Elewonibi T 62 Guy McIntyre G 63 Raleigh McKenzie C Defensive linemen 71 Mike Chalenski DE 90 Ronnie Dixon DT 95 William Fuller DE 96 Mark Gunn DT 91 Andy Harmon DT 97 Rhett Hall DT 94 Kevin Johnson DT 59 Mike Mamula DE 93 Danny Stubbs DE		Linebackers 54 Kurt Gouveia MLB 58 Derrick Oden MLB 53 Bill Romanowski OLB 51 William Thomas OLB 50 James Willis MLB 57 Marc Woodard OLB 52 Sylvester Wright OLB Defensive backs 23 Derrick Frazier CB 26 Jerome Henderson CB/S 47 Greg Jackson FS 29 Mark McMillian CB 21 Bobby Taylor CB 42 David Whitmore FS 45 Barry Wilburn CB/S 27 Eric Zomalt SS 36 Mike Zordich SS Special teams  1 Gary Anderson K 66 John Hudson LS  4 Tom Hutton P		Reserve lists -- Kevin Bouie RB (IR)   -- Vaughn Hebron RB (IR)   73 Lester Holmes T (IR)   79 Greg Jefferson DE (IR)   98 Tommy Jeter DT (IR)   84 Kelvin Martin WR/KR/PR (IR)   72 Joe Panos G (IR)   34 Kevin Turner RB (IR)   Practice squad 55 Nate Dingle LB 75 Troy Drake T -- Alai Kalaniuvalu G 64 Joe Rudolph G Rookies in italics

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Attendance	TV Time
1	September 3, 1995	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	L 21–6	0–1	66,266	FOX 1:00ET
2	September 10, 1995	at Arizona Cardinals	W 31–19	1–1	45,004	TNT 8:00ET
3	September 17, 1995	San Diego Chargers	L 27–21	1–2	63,081	NBC 1:00ET
4	September 24, 1995	at Oakland Raiders	L 48–17	1–3	48,875	FOX 4:00ET
5	October 1, 1995	at New Orleans Saints	W 15–10	2–3	43,938	FOX 1:00ET
6	October 8, 1995	Washington Redskins	W 37–34 (OT)	3–3	65,498	FOX 1:00ET
7	October 15, 1995	at New York Giants	W 17–14	4–3	74,252	FOX 1:00ET
8	Bye
9	October 29, 1995	St. Louis Rams	W 20–9	5–3	62,172	FOX 1:00ET
10	November 6, 1995	at Dallas Cowboys	L 34–12	5–4	64,876	ABC 9:00ET
11	November 12, 1995	Denver Broncos	W 31–13	6–4	60,842	ESPN 8:00ET
12	November 19, 1995	New York Giants	W 28–19	7–4	63,562	FOX 1:00ET
13	November 26, 1995	at Washington Redskins	W 14–7	8–4	50,539	FOX 1:00ET
14	December 3, 1995	at Seattle Seahawks	L 26–14	8–5	39,893	FOX 4:00ET
15	December 10, 1995	Dallas Cowboys	W 20–17	9–5	66,198	FOX 1:00ET
16	December 17, 1995	Arizona Cardinals	W 21–20	10–5	62,076	FOX 1:00ET
17	December 24, 1995	at Chicago Bears	L 20–14	10–6	52,391	FOX 1:00ET

Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries

Week 15

1 2 3 4 Total Cowboys 7 10 0 0 17 • Eagles 3 3 8 6 20 Date: December 10 Location: Veterans Stadium, Philadelphia, PA Game start: 1:00 p.m. EST Game weather: 23°F; wind 18 Referee: Ed Hochuli TV announcers (Fox): Pat Summerall and John Madden

Scoring summary Q1 PHI Anderson 42 yard field goal PHI 3–0 Q1 DAL Smith 10 yard run (Boniol kick) DAL 7–3 Q2 DAL Boniol 21 yard field goal DAL 10–3 Q2 DAL Brown 65 yard interception return (Boniol kick) DAL 17–3 Q2 PHI Anderson 27 yard field goal DAL 17–6 Q3 PHI Watters 1 yard run (Barnett pass from Peete) DAL 17–14 Q4 PHI Anderson 38 yard field goal Tie 17–17 Q4 PHI Anderson 42 yard field goal PHI 20–17

^[5]

NFL Network selected this game as the #5 Moment at Home in Eagles' history.

The game is known in Philadelphia as the "Groundhog Day" game. When the Cowboys didn't make a first down on their second attempt at 4th and 1 from their own 29-yard line with less than 9 minutes left in the fourth quarter, Philadelphia radio announcer Merrill Reece exclaimed: "They give it to Smith and they stop him again! They stop him again! And this time they can't take it away from the Eagles!"

Standings

NFC East
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	PF	PA	STK
^(1) Dallas Cowboys	12	4	0	.750	435	291	W2
^(4) Philadelphia Eagles	10	6	0	.625	318	338	L1
Washington Redskins	6	10	0	.375	326	359	W2
New York Giants	5	11	0	.313	290	340	L2
Arizona Cardinals	4	12	0	.250	275	422	L4

Playoffs

Round	Date	Opponent	Result	Attendance	TV Time
Wild Card	December 30, 1995	Detroit Lions	W 58–37	66,099	ABC 4:00pm EST
Divisional	January 7, 1996	at Dallas Cowboys	L 30–11	64,371	FOX 12:30pm EST

References

1. 1995 Philadelphia Eagles
2. "Pro Football Draft History: 1995". Pro Football Hall of Fame. from the original on December 6, 2008. Retrieved September 26, 2008.
3. Players are identified as a Pro Bowler if they were selected for the Pro-Bowl at any time in their career.
4. Mulligan, Kevin (May 16, 1995). "Ackles gets power position with Birds". Philadelphia Daily News. Retrieved November 8, 2014.
5. Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2014-Jul-07.

External links

• 1995 Philadelphia Eagles at Pro-Football-Reference.com