YOU can’t tell, but right now, I’m dancing in my chair. For the second year in a row, the schedule makers have smiled upon Philadelphia, and given the Eagles a pretty good schedule. It’s not a great schedule, but it’s a pretty good one. It’s also a tough one.
While a good schedule doesn’t mean a team will win their division, a bad one can easily act as an obstacle, or magnify the effect of existing obstacles like opponents, and injuries.
This year’s schedule includes a Week 9 Bye. Not too shabby. That’s a week off, smack-dab in the literal middle of the 17 week season. Eight games on, one week off, then eight games on. While I’m glad it’s not an early Bye (meaning anything earlier than Week 6), it would be better if it it fell on Week 10, 11 or 12. But Week 9 will do.
It’s a good schedule, but we do get plucked in the eye a few times. It’s a tough run, but there are only two points where we have short turnarounds of less than 7 days:
- Week 6 at the giants, after facing Minnesota 4 days earlier. However, that’s not so bad considering that the giants are also on a 4 day turnaround, after visiting the Panthers. So both of our teams will be about as tired as the other. Sauce for the goose.
- Week 14 at Dallas, after we duke it out with Washington 6 days earlier. A double stack of division games! Yummy! And we get to go on the road to Dallas! After they’ve had 10 days of rest. (Me no likey, the this one here.) Sometimes the placement of a game can make it hard to win it. This is one of those.
Then, after two weeks of war and emotional exhaustion vs Washington, and Dallas, we get to play the Rams in their home, on Week 15. This three week stretch could be the most dangerous part of the year.
In fact, the entire second half of the season is loaded with land mines. Five division games, and meetings with both the Saints and the Rams. All of which is fine, because a champion should be served a challenge.
It’s a tough schedule, but it’s a good one.
EAGLEMANIACAL.com 