The Sixers almost did it again.

The team built up another sizable lead and nearly blew it down the stretch against the Toronto Raptors on Monday afternoon. The Sixers escaped with a 117-111 win on MLK Day to improve to 20-20.

Joel Embiid led Philly with 34 points in the winning effort. T.J. McConnell had 18 points off the bench.

Watch JoJo work:

At the end of the game, things got a bit chippy between Kyle Lowry and Ben Simmons, but Ben doesn’t “take shit from anybody.”

It could’ve gone down in the halls of Wells Fargo Center though:

Off the court, the Sixers signed Demetrius Jackson to a two-way contract.

The team faces the Celtics on Thursday night at 7pm.

The Roundup:

Need something to go with the dog mask you ordered on Amazon? Crossing Broad has the shirt you need:

Order it TODAY and you’ll have it for Sunday’s NFC Championship showdown against the Vikings (if you live in the Philly area).

If you haven’t ordered your dog mask yet, you are out of luck.

If you did manage to get one before they sold out, you can wear them to the game:

Doug Pederson won’t need a dog mask as he is the ultimate underdog. Tim Reilly:

For a team that has embraced the underdog role, it’s fitting that the Eagles are led by Doug Pederson. While his team is relatively new to the feeling of being discounted, Pederson was fending off the skeptics long before Carson Wentz was lost for the season with a torn ACL.

The latest Crossing BroadCast dropped on Monday morning and was about the win over the Falcons.

Kyle just absolutely LOVES everything about this NFC Championship game:

But after three weeks of Nick Foles, a dismal offense, and some concerning defensive traits, they opened as a three-point underdog to the Falcons– a swing of 4 points, mostly due to Wentz being moved to a higher tier quarterback in terms of how Vegas views their value to the score. But the Eagles open at only +3.5 against the Vikings (and in some spots 3), which represents a swing back in their direction.

So once again, the Eagles are home dogs this Sunday for the NFC Championship. It appears that the team wouldn’t want it any other way. So BWanksCB says, let them eat!:

Don’t just talk about it. Be about it. If there’s not 60,000 people wearing dog masks next weekend completely weirding out Case Keenum, then I’m honestly not sure what the fuck we’re even doing.

Speaking of next weekend, since the Eagles were mostly counted out against a garbage Falcons team that wouldn’t have even been in the game had they played reasonably clean football, I’m fully embracing the inevitable disrespect.

Looking ahead to the match-up, that defense line needs to eat a lot on Sunday night:

Away from the field, the coaching carousel is still spinning in the NFL with Mike Mularkey and the Titans parting ways. Reportedly, Frank Reich is a candidate for the opening.

The Washington Post went in-depth on the bald eagle at the Eagles game this past weekend. Worth your time. In part:

Back in his dressing room in Philadelphia, the eagle tore into a raw hunk of wild-caught salmon and drank Fiji water from a cup, both of which his team had procured earlier that day at Whole Foods. He somehow managed to retain a regal air even as he sloshed his beak around in the water and sent drops flying over onlookers.

It’s official. Aaron Rodgers and Danica Patrick are now dating. So he’ll now crash and never finish a game.

In non-sports news…

The Senate is pushing to reverse the FCC’s decision on net neutrality.

Holding in a sneeze can put you in the hospital.

A flatbed truck crashed into the front of a home in New Jersey.