Crossing Broad
If you listened to the noise after the NFL released every team’s 2025 schedule back in the spring, you’d probably be hard pressed to find anyone who didn’t think the Eagles had one of the tougher slates.
In fact, the Eagles headed into the season with the fourth-toughest schedule in football, facing teams that had a combined record of 162-127 in 2024, a .561 winning percentage. The Eagles, along with the Lions, led the league with 11 playoff teams from 2024 on the schedule this year while the Giants were actually the team with the toughest schedule (166-123, .574 winning percentage).
In comparison, the 49ers had the easiest schedule (120-169, .415 winning percentage), so if you want to crown their ass, crown their ass.
In the spring, the general consensus was that the Eagles certainly wouldn’t be as good as they were in 2024 – the best team in Eagles history. But everyone thought they’d still easily make the playoffs.
Nobody thought they’d lose against the Cowboys in the season opener (until it was time to stir up some engagement), but more than many thought they’d likely fall to the Chiefs and the Rams game would be the toughest test early in the season. The Eagles beat the Chiefs, again, but it looked like the Rams would be well on their way to a victory at The Linc before a miraculous Eagles comeback was punctuated by Jordan Davis’ touchdown return from a blocked field goal to end the game.
Almost everyone had the Eagles losing in Tampa Bay, if only because of recent history. Despite not being healthy in those games, everyone thought the Eagles would falter. They almost did, but came out with the win. The only stat that matters.
The Broncos game was almost universally pegged as a win, even if Denver was off to a hot start. I’d say it looks a bit more than a hot start as they are now 12-2 and lead the AFC West. The Eagles could’ve easily handed them a loss, but conservativeness after building a big lead bit them in the end. A Giants game that nobody really cared about because the Phillies were playing in an elimination game against the Dodgers might have humbled some, but I honestly didn’t care much about that game. The vibes weren’t great, but a win in Minnesota against the Vikings and Carson Wentz, and the Giants before the bye, which was probably the Eagles’ best game as an offense all season before this past Sunday, seemed to set things back on track.
The bye seemed to fix everything last season, but had the opposite effect this season. The Browns game was ugly in 2024, but it was a win, and after that things seemed to shift. Coming out of this year’s bye, the Eagles won back-to-back games against strong NFC North teams in the Packers and Lions, but that was due to defensive clinics by Vic Fangio’s group. But, the consensus there was a...
