AT first this schedule looks like a pretty fair deal. On the plus side, there’s only one short week, and it’s early in the season. We open at home vs a shaky division rival. So we get a great tone setter game. We also get to play the AFC East, and the NFC North. (And any rival who points out how soft our schedule is, is also playing these teams.)

So it doesn’t look bad, until you look closer. CLOSER!

It’s a set-up! It’s a trap!

This schedule can either be our ticket to a first round Bye or the reason we sit out the playoffs.

First, those three road games in a row, jump out at you. But, it’s nothing we haven’t seen before (2017), right? In the middle of that world tour is a division rival, who can max themselves out, because unlike us, they have a Bye following the game.

Did you notice the short week before we go to Lambeau?

How about the fact that we only play back to back home games, ONCE all year long?

But the worst part is, the season ending on four straight divisional games. FOUR STRAIGHT DIVISIONAL GAMES! Unless the Eagles enter that stretch 12 – 0 or 11 – 1, we still have to claw to either maintain, or acquire a playoff berth, because any loss we suffer during that period would help whichever team sits just ahead of us, or just behind us.

That sort of week in and week out adrenaline surge, essentially puts the Eagles in playoff mode a full month before the playoffs actually start. That potentially means the Eagles have to burn playoff hot for TWO STRAIGHT MONTHS, instead of just one. That sort of intensity is almost impossible to sustain through a Super Bowl win.

It’s a pretty sneaky schedule.