Every year sharpe analytics releases a break down of teams most helped and hurt by scheduling quirks like travel, time changes, short/long weeks etc.
Every year the eagles are always among the most disadvantaged teams. This year is no different. Some things working against us this year are the Monday night game after the Bye (Creates a short week after and minimize the benefit of getting the extra day prior) then playing SF after they play on Thursday the week prior, then the next week playing the cowboys who will also be coming off a Thursday game. So during what is already a “gauntlet” stretch we will also be playing 3 straight games against teams with a rest/prep advantage.
Speaking of the cowboys, while middle of the pack this year they are historically the team that benefits the most from the scheduling quirks. A large part of this comes from always getting their TNF game at home on thanksgiving. This year when they actually have to play 2 TNF games they get them back to back both at home to minimize the disadvantage and give them one when they play us. The league seems to bend over backwards to make the cowboys schedule as favorable as possible.
Is this something you think lurie should try to address in the off-season league meetings? Or something that’s not a big enough deal to worry about?
Well…
We basically make the playoffs every year so we play harder teams (no coincidence that the Chiefs and 49ers sandwich us in their “most disadvantaged” list, also both deep playoff teams last year), so their analytics are always going to say that we’re at a disadvantage compared to bad teams with soft schedules (also no coincidence that bottom feeders like the Jets, Bears, and Commanders are the most helped). We’re also on the 8 home/9 away game rotation this year (fucking stupid 17 games), so it stands to reason that it would suck slightly more than average. On top of all of that, good teams get more primetime games and so are going to have harder schedules. Just is what it is.