When the RMS Carpathia began hauling Titanic passengers out of lifeboats in the North Atlantic in 1912, those passengers probably didn't want to spend a lot of time reflecting about the food, or the music, or man's hubris. They were just happy to be alive.

Was that too Nick Saban-y an analogy? Sorry about that. But that's kind of how we feel after the Patriots clawed their way to survival against Philly last night.

The Eagles, not content to be cannon fodder or "Eagle cutlets" (what jerk suggested that phrase?), threw everything they had at the Pats, and almost came away with the most stunning upset of the century. They did just about everything right. They pressured Tom Brady much more than anyone had this year. Their defense had Randy Moss bound and gagged for most of the night. A.J. Feeley, an afterthought quarterback, looked more Bradylike than Brady. They even went the trick-play route, recovering a surprise onside kick in the second quarter.

But the Patriots just nodded grimly and went to work. With Moss neutralized and the running game nearly nonexistent, Brady and Wes Welker combined for about 742 second-half yards. Welker kept getting open, Brady kept getting him the ball, and the Pats finally took back the lead on a Laurence Maroney run with 7:20 to go.

The Eagles, though, weren't going to give up. Feeley and the amazing Brian Westbrook took it from their own 8 to the New England 35 before Feeley made the first mistake of the game, uncorking a wild pass into the end zone that Asante Samuel pulled down for an interception and a mass exhalation all over the region. Maybe it's a good thing that the Pats weren't tired from having to fight for the whole 60 minutes.

Were the Patriots hung over after their afternoon champagne toast, when Buffalo lost to Jacksonville, clinching the AFC East? Were they too distracted by Sadly, No!'s LOLTriots? Nah. Philly just played a hell of a game and we're very, very lucky to still be undefeated this morning. Bonus: Belichick has actual evidence to throw around this week at practice that they can't rest on their laurels. And the haters around America can take some solace in the fact that the Patriots were still sweating at 11:30 PM.

The Boston-vs-Philly thing continues tonight as the Bruins face the Flyers. It's the first time the teams have met since Philly's Randy Jones smashed Patrice Bergeron's face into the glass. The B's, to a man, say that winning the game is more important than busting Flyer heads, but this will be an intense matchup regardless.

DVD Cover, because we can't get enough Ted Knight, from sitcomsonline.com.