Eagles welcoming fans who wear dog masks to NFC title game

PHILADELPHIA -- When the Minnesota Vikings look into the stands at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday, they should expect to see a bunch of dogs staring back at them.

The Philadelphia Eagles are welcoming all fans who were able to purchase "underdog" masks to wear them to the NFC Championship Game this weekend.

The German Shepherd masks that Eagles right tackle Lane Johnson and defensive end Chris Long wore after Saturday's divisional round win over the Atlanta Falcons quickly sold out on Amazon, and the purveyors over at CreepyParty are having a tough time keeping up with the demand.

They have sold around 500 masks since Saturday and have been inundated with emails from fans wanting to know how they can get their paws on one.

With their factory based in China, supply has been the issue. After their initial inventory of around 300 masks was wiped out, they bought an additional 300 from other distributors at a higher cost, leading to a jump in retail price from about $16 to $39.99.

They sold 200 masks in six hours after putting the item back on Amazon on Monday, according to customer service, and they expect the rest will be gone soon.

All of this was kick-started by a conversation over lunch between Johnson and Long leading up to their game against Atlanta.

"Me and Chris Long were talking, and everybody's calling us underdogs, so hey, let's go get us a dog mask," Johnson said. "That's what we did."

Installed as three-point underdogs to the Falcons, the Eagles were the first No. 1 seed in NFL history not to be favored in its first game of the postseason.

They're 3.5-point underdogs to the Vikings as well, allowing the organization to play the disrespect card for another week.

"When did Carson [Wentz] go down? Since that point, no one's given us a chance," Eagles coach Doug Pederson said, referring to the quarterback's Dec. 10 ACL tear. "I understand Carson's a great player, but every week our guys are hearing the same thing. Now, all of a sudden, we're not good enough? We're 13-3, best record in football, home-field advantage throughout.

"The guys are gonna motivate themselves based on what they've heard for the last month. It really doesn't matter what you guys talk about, because [our] locker room is united. I'll go to bat for every one of those guys; I'll go to war for every one of those guys in that dressing room."