Now is not the time to take the foot off the gas.
Flying high thanks to a badly-needed two-game winning streak on the heels of three straight deflating defeats, the Eagles find themselves in a solid position entering the final two weeks of the season. With their second straight division title locked up, the Birds have looked a lot more like their 2024 selves of late, just in time for another Super Bowl run. They will most likely enter the postseason tournament as the No. 3 seed in the NFC, although there is an outside shot at No. 2.
The simplest path to the No. 2 seed is for the Eagles to beat the Bills in Buffalo this Sunday followed by a win over the revenge-obsessed Commanders in Week 18 in Philadelphia, along with two losses by the Chicago Bears. Anything other than requires a degree in advanced calculus and substantial wishing upon a star to move up to No. 2.
Earning the No. 2 seed would be advantageous because it assures two home playoff games, in the wild card and divisional rounds, rather than going on the road for the divisional round. It also opens up the possibility for a home NFC Championship Game if the No. 1 seed suffers an upset loss in the divisional round, as happened last year with the Commanders in Detroit.
However, the Eagles will be the most talented team on the field no matter who they play. For much of this season, their struggles on offense and, at times, in the run game on defense, were self-inflicted. Victories over the truly awful Las Vegas Raiders and the slightly less-terrible Commies the last two weeks have not silenced some of the doubters.
“Yeah, the offense looked a lot better, but look who they beat! Let’s see them do it against a real team!”
It’s obviously unfair to criticize the Eagles after ugly wins over the Rams, Packers, Lions, Chiefs (when they were good), and Buccaneers while also throwing shade at lopsided wins against the Raiders and Washington. But, to be fair, the Eagles played ugly in those victories. There were legitimate reasons for concern. It has been difficult to find many instances in which both sides of the ball played cleanly for all 60 minutes of a football game, which is why this week’s contest in Buffalo is so darn intriguing.
It’s not time to rest the starters. This week’s game against the Bills will be a true test of where they are heading into the playoffs. Nick Sirianni and the Birds should take this game seriously and go all-out to win.
Just imagine what a solid victory against the 11-4 Bills would do for this team’s, and the city’s, confidence. Buffalo is currently the No. 6 seed in the AFC and trailing the 12-3 New England Patriots in the AFC East by one game. Those two teams meet up again in Week 18 with a division title potentially on the line, given Buffalo’s comeback win against the Pats two weeks ago. Josh Allen and the Bills have more to play for this week than the Eagles, yet it would behoove the Birds to play the game as they normally would.
No matter what happens on Sunday, the Eagles should be resting starters in the season finale against Washington. Even if the No. 2 seed is still in play, they should leave it up to Tanner McKee, Tank Bigsby and the rest of the back-ups to try and secure it against a motivated Commanders team, allowing the starters to gain a “bye” week heading into the playoffs, much like they did a season ago. But you don’t rest your starters for two straight weeks, not when the offense is just starting to find its footing.
Imagine going into Buffalo against a motivated opponent and coming away with a victory. What would that say to the rest of the NFL? The Eagles already have an aura around them. Going on the road and defeating a pumped and primed out-of-conference opponent, most likely in bad weather, would speak volumes about where this team is right now.
Of course, avoiding injuries is the highest concern, and if the weather is so bad that it risks the health of Jalen Hurts or anyone else, the coaching staff should err on the side of caution. That being said, we all want to see this team go into Buffalo and come away with a victory that would likely squash all the hand-wringing from this up-and-down 2025 season.
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