Filed under: Eagles, NFC East, NFL Injuries
At 10-4, the Philadelphia Eagles have taken control of the NFC East, needing just to beat Minnesota (5-8 heading into Monday’s game with NFC North leader Chicago) and Dallas (5-9) at home to secure their first division title in five years.
However, the Eagles’ consecutive tight road victories over NFC East rivals Dallas and New York came at a price: their top two draft choices. First-rounder Brandon Graham, who had been seeing plenty of time behind left defensive end Juqua Parker, suffered a season-ending keen injury during the 30-27 victory over the Cowboys on Dec. 12. And Sunday, first-rounder Nate Allen, the starter at free safety all season, tore his right patella tendon during the second quarter of the 38-31 thriller over the Giants.
Eagles coach Andy Reid said Monday that Allen will have season-ending surgery on Tuesday. That makes Kurt Coleman, seventh-rounder out of Ohio State, a starter. Fellow seventh-rounder Jamar Chaney is holding the fort at middle linebacker while Stewart Bradley recovers from a dislocated elbow suffered at Dallas. Reid said that Bradley is unlikely to return against the Vikings.
Coleman said he’s ready for the challenge which seems likely to include Philadelphia’s first home playoff game since the wild card round in 2006.
“They brought me on this team for a reason,” he said. “(Veteran strong safety Quintin Mikell) has been helping me out tremendously. So I’ll definitely be ready next week.”Right tackle Winston Justice, a game-time scratch against the Giants with a knee injury, might play against Minnesota.
“He’s continuing to make progress,” Reid said. “He had a good workout today. We’ll just see how he does with the bull-rush with a hard aggressive push on that leg. Right now, he looks pretty good.”
Slowly but surely, the first-round dominoes are falling. The latest: No. 13 overall pick 
