They'll all admit that you are what your record says you are, which happens to be a pedestrian 5-4 going into today's game against the 1-8 Cincinnati Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium. If the playoffs opened this weekend, the Eagles wouldn't be participants for the second straight season and the third time in four years.

"We know we're a good team," guard Todd Herremans said before practice Thursday. "Everybody knows we're a good team. Every game we lost, we felt we should have won. We know what we can do; it's just a matter of doing it. I know that's getting redundant, but . . . I don't know what else to say."

To some, Herremans' words might sound delusional, but he's certainly not alone in his belief among those employed at One NovaCare Way.

"We are doing a lot of things on offense that championship-type offenses do," offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg said. "There are a couple of situations that we are not performing very well and . . . we are going to prepare and get better in those situations."

And then there's this simple statement from defensive coordinator Jim Johnson when asked if he still thinks he has a good defense after watching the Giants pile up 219 rushing yards, 401 total yards, and 36 points: "Yes, I do."

If the Eagles are deceiving themselves, then they're at least getting some help from the statistical data.

Their offense ranks seventh in yards and the team is fourth in the NFL with 251 points. Defensively, the Eagles are ranked ninth in the NFL in yards allowed and 10th in points allowed. The Eagles also have 17 takeaways, tied for the sixth most in the NFL and just two fewer than they had all of last year.

It's rare for a team to be ranked in the top 10 in offense and defense in the same season; even rarer for such a team to still struggle for victories.

Only 21 teams in this decade have finished a season in the top 10 in offense and defense. Fourteen of those 21 at least made the playoffs and four of them reached the Super Bowl, including the 2004 Eagles.

The 2007 Eagles were one of the seven teams that failed to make the playoffs despite finishing in the top 10 in offensive yards accumulated and defensive yards allowed. The 2008 Eagles are in danger of duplicating that dubious distinction.

"It's frustrating, because there were times when we weren't a top-10 offense or defense and . . . we were having a lot of success," quarterback Donovan McNabb said.

If the Eagles can't get into the playoffs this season, it would likely be even more frustrating because there were a lot more things that went wrong a year ago.

Last year's team struggled in the red zone on offense, was terrible on special teams, had bigger injury issues, and finished last in the NFL in takeaways with 19. This year's team is far from perfect, but it's much-improved on special teams and is tied for fifth in turnover differential at a plus-six.

"One thing that we can pinpoint is that we haven't closed games," McNabb said.

By that, McNabb means the Eagles haven't finished well. When a big play has been needed at the end of close games, it has been made by the opposing team.

McNabb's botched fourth-quarter exchange in Dallas during Week 2 opened the door for a late Cowboys touchdown and a four-point victory. Two missed field goals by David Akers and three failed running attempts from the 1-yard line in the fourth quarter doomed the Eagles to a four-point loss to the Bears in Chicago.

A missed first-quarter field goal by Akers and an inability to pick up short-yardage first downs on offense or stop Clinton Portis on defense left the Eagles with a six-point home loss to the Washington Redskins. More short-yardage offensive problems and the inability to slow down the Giants' rushing attack left the Eagles with a five-point loss a week ago at Lincoln Financial Field.

"This year, in particular, it has come down to one or two plays when it really counts," Lito Sheppard said when asked to take his crack at why the Eagles' statistics look good, but their record doesn't. "Last year, I think it was more about key players being out. This year, we've been fairly healthy, but we've had those one or two plays that we don't make happen when we really need it and that has cost us victories."

And how do you solve that problem?

Sheppard's answer was that the Eagles need some unlikely player to step up and make a huge play in a close game.

"It's like when Donovan got hurt a few years ago and Jeff [Garcia] stepped in," Sheppard said. "His iNFLuence and excitement sparked everybody else. Maybe that's what we're missing. Somebody who's not supposed to make plays comes out and makes plays. We need somebody to make one of those defining-moment plays. You just never know when that play is going to happen."

Two seasons ago, it was actually Sheppard that made that play with a game-sealing interception in a Monday Night Football game against the Carolina Panthers. That play triggered a stunning five-game winning streak that carried the Eagles to a surprising NFC East title.

A year ago, however, the critical play at the end of games was always made by an opponent and so far this season, the script hasn't changed.

Contact staff writer Bob Brookover at 215-854-2577 or bbrookover@phillynews.com.