The Philadelphia Eagles are in the midst of a historic season for the franchise. Philadelphia is currently 11-1, tying the best 12-game start in franchise history in 1949, 1980, and 2004. Those three teams went on to either the championship game or the Super Bowl, which just makes it fair. to have those expectations. for this Eagles team.
Philadelphia is second in the NFL in points (28.2 ppg) and third in yards per game (388.1) while ranking seventh in points allowed (18.8 per game) and second in yards allocated (296.4). Led by Jalen Hurts’ MVP-caliber play, the Eagles have climbed to the top of the NFC East and hold the No. 1 seed in the NFC — where they’ve been all season.
Philadelphia can clinch a playoff berth on Sunday with a win over the New York Giants, but that’s just the start of the Eagles’ path to the playoffs. The NFC East crown and home-field advantage are also on the line over the next few weeks, which would see the road to the Super Bowl pass through Lincoln Financial Field in January.
As the Eagles prepare for the playoffs, let’s take a look at their remaining schedule and how they can lock in the NFC East title and home-field advantage over the next few weeks.
Remaining schedule
Week/Day |
Opponent |
Date hour |
Week 14 (12/11) |
among the giants |
1 p.m. (Fox) |
Week 15 (12/18) |
in the bears |
1 p.m. (Fox) |
Week 16 (12/24) |
at Cowboys |
4:25 p.m. (Fox) |
Week 17 (1/1) |
against the saints |
1 p.m. (Fox) |
Week 18 (1/8) |
against the giants |
To be determined |
How the Eagles can land NFC East, No. 1 seed in NFC
Philadelphia has a two-game lead over the Dallas Cowboys and a 3.5-game lead over the New York Giants with five games remaining. A victory over the Giants in Week 14 eliminates New York from the NFC East race, knocking a team in the division out of the equation.
The Dallas Cowboys are the biggest threat to the Eagles in the NFC East race. The Eagles also have the head-to-head tiebreaker against the Cowboys, which essentially gives them another game against Dallas. If the Eagles win their next two games, they can clinch the division in Week 16 with a win over the Cowboys.
Even if the Eagles lose that game to Dallas, they would still clinch the NFC East with wins in their last two games. Winning three games in a row would clinch the division in Week 16, which would be the ideal scenario for Philadelphia.
When it comes to home-field advantage, the Eagles have a one-game lead over the Minnesota Vikings with the tiebreaker in hand — essentially making it a two-game lead. The Eagles would need to go 4-1 in their last five games to secure home-court advantage in the conference.
The magic number of wins for the Eagles is 15. Dallas can’t reach 15 wins and Minnesota would lose the tiebreaker even if they lead the table.
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Where the Eagles need to improve
Execute Defense: The Eagles have taken steps to improve in that department, signing Linval Joseph and Ndamukong Suh following Jordan Davis who sprained his ankle. Davis returned from injured reserve in Week 13 and has the luxury of regaining the speed of the game thanks to the presence of Suh and Joseph on the roster in addition to Fletcher Cox and Javon Hargrave.
The run defense was much maligned before the arrival of Joseph and Suh. Over the past three games, Philadelphia has allowed just 97.3 rushing yards per game – which ranks ninth in the league over that span. The Eagles are allowed 117.9 rushing yards per game (17th in the NFL) and still allow 4.6 yards per carry (24th in the NFL), so there are some things that need to be cleaned up.
Philadelphia is moving in the right direction by improving the run defense. With Davis back in the fold, the unit should be better going forward.
Special teams: The Eagles had their best special teams game of the season in a Week 13 win over the Tennessee Titans, thanks to some unit changes that paid off. Promoting Christian Elliss from the practice squad helped kickoff coverage while Reed Blankenship and Nakobe Dean made plays on that unit.
Special teams coordinator Michael Clay made Boston Scott the kick returner and limited Britain Covey to punt returns – and the undrafted rookie responded with his best performance of the year. Covey’s 105 punt return yards were second most in the NFL this year averaging 17.5 yards per return.
Even with strong performances, the Eagles are ranked 21st in DVOA Special Teams (per Football Outsiders). They’re 22nd in DVOA kickoff, 28th in DVOA kick return, 20th in DVOA punt return, and 20th in hidden runs on special teams — so there’s work to be done.
If the special teams unit can show consistency and put in more performances like last week, that’s a huge plus for the Eagles going forward.