Best tests for Birds are yet to come
Of all the oddly popular traditions in sports, few matter as little as the ever-anticipated, springtime revelation of what wasn’t very secret in the first place. That’s the day the NFL releases its schedules and the hustling begins to be the first with the incorrect conclusions.
Typically, it is a harmless, whimsical event. But for the Eagles this year, the schedule and the way it will break, was anything but insignificant. As it happened, it is everything.
For multiple reasons, most connected to the sheer randomness of their sport, the Eagles’ schedule this season has begun to look as if it was purposely broken into two parts. The first: A tease. The second: A test.
The tease, the Eagles handled with panache and power, stomping over several struggling and lastplace teams to reach their bye week with an 8-1 record and the attention of the Las Vegas bookmakers. That unofficial first half of the season ended with a threegame home winning streak over the sputtering Redskins, the inept 49ers and the spent Broncos, who are at the bottom of the AFC West. Their two other home games, both victories naturally, were over the disintegrating Giants and the inconsistent Cardinals.
Through their 8-1 start, the Eagles had two telling road tests. They lost a onepossession game in Kansas City, and they won a onepossession game at Carolina. The other road victories came in Washington and on a soccer pitch in California against the useless Chargers.
So that’s how the Birds won eight of nine. They became 8-1, too, because Carson Wentz has built a robust MVP candidacy, because Doug Pederson can coach, because Jim Schwartz has become the air-quote hotcoordinator and because Howie Roseman made sure to keep adding weapons. But, well, they are 8-1 because their schedule broke nicely. Now what? “Staying in the moment,” Alshon Jeffery said. “Just keep working. Just stay focused. Just staying on top. This is the brotherhood. Just keeping everyone on track.”
If any team didn’t need to take time off after outscoring opponents, 128-57 over three games, it was the Eagles. That moment Jeffery mentioned? It’s over. The tease is behind. The test is next. That’s the jolting reality to the Eagles and their fans. But that should also be a welcome opportunity.
The worst thing about an 8-1 record is that critics will wonder about its validity. The best thing is that the chance remains to respond to every complaint.
If the Eagles are to continue to control their division, they will need only to fight off one possible contender. That will be the Cowboys, and they will play them twice in their last eight games, including their matchup in Arlington on Nov. 19.
And if the Eagles are to be hit with a challenge in the NFC, chances are strong it could come from Seattle or Los Angeles. They will make both stops on one early-December road trip. And did anyone forecast that reality, back when that schedule news broke?
The Rams have the potential to be a particular problem. Their last game was a 33-7 victory over Houston, and they are led by Jared Goff, the quarterback drafted one spot ahead of Wentz. At 7-2, they are basically the Eagles, but not quite as loud. Yet if form holds and the Eagles lose in L.A., then the whole season story changes. Suddenly, the Rams would be the NFC boss. Suddenly, Goff would be the favored, young quarterback. Suddenly, the Eagles will be questioned.
Though not their fault, the Birds have faced plenty of questionable quarterbacks, including fizzling Eli Manning, who can no longer play. But in their final seven games, they will play Dak Prescott twice, Goff and Russell Wilson. Derek Carr, of the Raiders, who will visit the Linc on Christmas, is capable, too.
The Eagles, not a particularly young team, have been good for the past few weeks at refusing to declare satisfaction. “They don’t give awards,” Jason Kelce said, “for that.”
They don’t. But they give awards to teams that start well, improve, and finish with a flourish. The Eagles have completed a third of that challenge already. That’s not enough. “We have to refocus coming off a break,” Doug Pederson said. “We have to get ourselves back to doing the things we did before the break. But the biggest thing is just, it’s a one-dayat-a-time message. It’s win today. Let’s just win today. Let’s get better today. And there’s two types of players, two types of coaches: Those that are getting better and those that aren’t.”
That was as close as any coach will come to acknowledging what the Eagles have run themselves into by winning eight of their first nine: That it is not necessarily an accurate gauge of their strength.
That’s coming. That’s coming soon. Four of the next five are on the road. Challenges, back-loaded.
That’s not to diminish the Eagles. That’s just to analyze the schedule. That’s just to analyze it when it matters.
To contact Jack McCaffery, email him at jmccaffery@21stcenturymedia.com; follow him on Twitter @JackMcCaffery
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