Focus stays on Washington, not watching scores
LANDOVER, MD. >> All the games impacting the NFC playoffs begin at 4:25 p.m. Sunday, when the Eagles oppose the Washington Redskins at FedEx Field (Fox, WIP 94.1-FM).
The defending Super Bowl champion Eagles (8-7) are in the tournament if they beat the Redskins (78) and the Minnesota Vikings (8-61) lose to the Chicago Bears (11-4).
For a team that’s won four of its last five starts as the Eagles have, pulling up short in the regular season finale to an outfit that’s lost five of its last six would tarnish a furious comeback that few expected from the defending NFC East champs.
“It would be a tragedy if you go out there and worry about another team and you don’t even take care of what you’re supposed to, and that’s go out there and try to win against the Redskins,” veteran defensive end Brandon Graham said. “I think we just have to not get all caught up in it, let everything take care of itself. But we have to take of business on Sunday.”
The Eagles are in the uncomfortable position of having their Wild Card hopes contingent on other teams with their own motivations.
Consider the Bears and head coach Matt Nagy, who Doug Pederson is buds with and has already spoken to about his intentions for the weekend. The Bears need a win over the Vikings in Minneapolis and a loss by the Los Angeles Rams to the San Francisco 49ers to secure a bye.
The Rams (12-3) clinch a bye with a victory. And they’re already so much better than the Summary: Nick Foles is unstoppable right now, leaving the Redskins to rely on Adrian Peterson to control the clock and keep the Birds from finding an offensive rhythm. How thin is that? The only real drama is whether the Eagles are eliminated from the playoffs, which would make this Foles’ last game with the franchise. Nerdy Nate Silver says it is.
The pick: Make it Eagles 26, Redskins 16.
49ers (4-11), it’s ridiculous. A loss and the Rams could end up facing Nick Foles and the Eagles in the playoffs next weekend. You know how Round 1 went a few weeks ago.
Then there are the 49ers, who have had a train wreck of a season after losing quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to injury. If they defeat L.A., they’ll have victories in three of their last five starts. That’s hardly the kind of momentum you find helpful carrying into the next season. The bottom line is if the Niners win Sunday, they could lose the second overall pick in the draft. That would be disastrous for a club with needs everywhere on the field.
For those reasons, the Bears are likely to lose interest in beating the Vikings, who they then would oppose in the first round of the playoffs, only at Soldier Field. The Bears wouldn’t want to risk injuries. They would have the luxury of resting players.
The Vikings then would be attempting to defeat the Bears for the third time this season, only in a hostile environment and outdoors.
The Bears already scratched safety Eddie Jackson, linebacker Aaron Lynch and wide receiver Allen Robinson. They might not risk breaking out much of a creative game plan because it’s almost a certainty they’ll host Skol Nation the following week.
Nagy has to ask himself who’d he rather face in the playoffs, Kirk Cousins or Foles. Hard to believe a coach-of-the-year candidate who has led a proud but snake-bitten franchise back into the limelight would choose the reigning Super Bowl MVP over the high-priced guy who got his offensive coordinator fired in the middle of his first season.
While all of that is going on, Foles and his teammates have to avoid looking at the scoreboard or being distracted by the crowd reacting to updates.
“My dad said that, growing up, ‘Don’t worry about the score,’” Foles said. “And I didn’t always listen. I was stubborn. You just wanted to play. You look at the score, and it does affect somehow of how you play.”
The Eagles are favored by 61/2-points over the Redskins, essentially because the hosts are on their fourth starting quarterback. The guy is Josh Johnson, once a promising first-round draft pick of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The 32-year-old Johnson secured his first win as a starter two weeks ago against the Jaguars.
The Eagles have to stop 33-yearold running back Adrian Peterson, who became the oldest player to reach 1,000 yards since John Riggins in 1984.
The Redskins have to stop Foles, who threw for a franchiserecord 471 yards, plus four touchdowns last week.
With the Eagles committed to quarterback Carson Wentz, sidelined with a back injury, the benefits for Foles would increase exponentially with a trip to the playoffs or — from the “never say never” department — a second Super Bowl championship.
The more Foles wins, the crazier the money. Likewise, when the Eagles season ends, so does his second tour with them.
Until it’s official, the Eagles believe they are a dangerous team.
“I like us,” Eagles receiver Nelson Agholor told reporters. “I like us a lot. At the end of the day, if we’re in, I like us.”