The Eagles’ 2024 schedule has been revealed and now it’s time to take a better seems to be on the execs and cons!
PROS
The Eagles don’t need to play a single opponent coming off their bye. Final yr, the Eagles and Chiefs had their bye week on the similar time earlier than taking part in one another. So, no relaxation drawback, however no relaxation benefit, both.
The Eagles could have a bye week relaxation benefit over the Cleveland Browns in Week 6. The Browns additionally need to journey to Las Vegas in Week 4 and Landover, Maryland in Week 5 earlier than visiting Philly. That third straight highway recreation tends to be tough for groups.
The Eagles could have a relaxation benefit over the Falcons in Week 2 with Philly opening the season on Friday and Atlanta taking part in on Sunday. After all, the Eagles might be coping with an extended journey house from Brazil … however taking part in on Monday offers them extra of a buffer to deal with their return.
The Eagles don’t need to cope with an obnoxiously tough stretch of video games like “The Gauntlet” from final yr. The hardest a part of this yr’s schedule is both back-to-back highway video games in opposition to the Los Angeles Rams and Baltimore Ravens … or the three-game sandwich of Cincinnati Bengals on the highway, the Jacksonville Jaguars at house, after which the Dallas Cowboys on the highway.
The Eagles have a relaxation benefit over the Rams in Week 12 with the Birds coming off their post-Thursday Evening Soccer mini-bye. The Rams even have a cross-country journey to play the New England Patriots in Week 11.
The Eagles don’t need to play Thursday Evening Soccer on the highway.
The Eagles taking part in TNF in Week 11 (versus nearer to their Week 5 bye) helps to area out their relaxation somewhat.
The Eagles don’t need to get on a aircraft (within the common season, not less than) after their Week 12 journey to LA. 4 of their final six video games are at The Linc … and the 2 highway video games are in Baltimore (1 hour, 43 minute drive in line with Google maps) and Landover, Maryland (2 hour, 8 minute drive in line with Google maps). And people comparatively quick drives are 21 days aside. The Eagles can probably use this stretch to get scorching going into the playoffs.
Getting again to final yr’s Gauntlet for a second, it wasn’t simply the opponents that made it powerful. It was additionally the Eagles having to play three straight video games at a relaxation drawback at one level (coming off MNF to play the Buffalo Payments, coming off SNF to play a San Francisco 49ers group coming off a mini-bye, taking part in a Dallas Cowboys group coming off a mini-bye). They don’t need to cope with a problem like that this yr. Actually, they don’t play a single group coming off their TNF mini-bye!
Slight edge in a key recreation? Solely a matter of hours however the Cowboys host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on SNF earlier than touring to play the Eagles in Week 17. The Birds, in the meantime, might be coming off a 1:00 PM begin in Landover, Maryland earlier than internet hosting Dallas.
The Eagles have one of many best schedules within the league, in line with a metric that’s extra related than merely utilizing final yr’s document for energy of schedule:
CONS
The Eagles are shedding a house recreation by taking part in in Brazil. And never simply any outdated house recreation … however one in opposition to a group they may probably be competing with for positioning within the NFC playoff image.
The Eagles have a really early Week 5 bye. In the event that they don’t get the No. 1 seed, the Tremendous Bowl will probably be their seventeenth straight recreation with out a break.
The Eagles have a slight relaxation drawback in opposition to the New Orleans Saints in Week 3 coming off MNF.
The Eagles solely play at The Linc as soon as previous to October 13.
From Week 3 by Week 13, the Eagles play seven of 10 video games on the highway.
OTHER
For gadgets that didn’t cleanly slot in both of the primary two classes …
Going by the Cowboys’ schedule, I see them shedding round six video games. I feel the Eagles are in a great place to lose fewer than six, thus conserving the non-repeat NFC East winner streak alive.
Talking of the Cowboys, it’s odd to see that the Eagles gained’t be taking part in them in prime-time. After all, each video games are within the vary of being topic to flex scheduling.
None of that dumb shit the place the Eagles play the identical NFC East rival twice inside three weeks this season (like they did with the Giants final yr).
There’s a faculty of thought that it’s higher to play your hardest on-paper opponents later within the season as a result of there’s a higher probability of a key damage (or a number of) that impacts them. Enjoying the Rams and Ravens after they do might be thought-about favorable, then. Much less so for the Packers and Bengals.
Six 1:00 PM begins this yr! That’s such a aid after solely THREE final season. Maybe you don’t care when the video games begin. Otherwise you truly favor the late begins. If that’s the case, sorry for you. As somebody who’s staying up method after the ultimate whistle, I actually like the sooner begins. Not making an attempt to complain about my job, which I’m very lucky to have. However final yr’s schedule was tiring with all of the late video games. Solely three 1:00 PM begins was fairly egregious. There’s room for somewhat extra steadiness than that and I’m glad it’s right here this yr.
Every of the final two seasons, the Eagles had a stretch the place they went from taking part in on Thursday to Monday (10 days with out taking part in a recreation). Not taking place this yr.
Can’t think about many followers might be going to that 1:00 PM Saturday preseason finale. Sitting within the scorching summer season solar to observe a bunch of lengthy shot gamers? You’ll need to be an actual sicko for that.
OVERALL
This schedule configuration seems to be a lot better than final yr’s slate.
What say you?
