Swan Song for Rhodes--or Not?

PHILADELPHIA —  Ray Rhodes walked briskly into the Philadelphia locker room, shaking hands with a few people he has gotten to know since he was hired as the Eagle coach in 1995.

“All right, all right. It’s been real,” Rhodes said after the Eagles’ 20-10 loss to the New York Giants on Sunday gave them the first 13-loss season in franchise history.

Rhodes, who acknowledged two weeks ago he would be gone after the season, gave yet another concession and farewell speech after the game. But owner Jeffrey Lurie said all this talk about a new coach was “premature.”

“Ray is our coach,” Lurie said. “ . . . I want a chance to sit down with all the coaches, sit down with Ray and see what everybody wants to do.”

Only the Eagles (3-13) could have a coach who thinks he’s been fired and an owner who disagrees.

Lost in the confusion was the end of an inconsistent season for the Giants (8-8), who were eliminated from NFC wild-card contention before the game started because of Tampa Bay’s 35-0 victory over Cincinnati.

“We were watching the game and saw it was 28-0,” said Giant receiver Chris Calloway, who caught two touchdown passes from Kent Graham. “We were kind of down in the first half.”

It was also Irving Fryar’s final game in the NFL. The Eagle receiver, retiring after 15 seasons, had three catches for 36 yards but fell 17 yards short of becoming the eighth player in NFL history with 12,000 receiving yards.

“I felt pretty calm,” Fryar said. “It was pretty scary, though. It felt like a funeral. It was nice to have all my family and friends from home here to support me.”

The Eagles finished with their worst record since going 2-11-1 in 1972.