Eagles On The Bye, Games To Watch Week 10 - Philadelphia Sports Nation

Who would’ve thought the Eagles would be 8-1 heading into their Week 10 Bye?

Apparently in the off-season I knew exactly what was up.
Predicting the Eagles would be 8-1 by now, the only games I had incorrect were the Jets and Dolphins games… Which is pretty close as they’re both AFC East opponents.

If you’d like to view my pre-Training Camp predictions. They can be viewed in the following.

NFC Opponents
AFC Opponents
NFC East Opponents

At the Week 10 Bye, and also the halfway point of the season, how are the Eagles faring based off of your expectations?

Personally, I’d say they’re doing pretty good as they get the week off after beginning what is being called “The Gauntlet” of the season.

The Start Of The Gauntlet

There’s no excuse for a weak schedule for this Eagles team. they’ve managed to hold on to the 1 seed this long and they’ve built a hefty lead on it heading into the most difficult stretch of the year.

Starting with the Cowboys game last week, the Eagles managed to grow their lead on 1st place in the NFC East, with a 2.5 game lead on the 2nd place Cowboys, who will enter their own difficult stretch in the weeks to come. With a victory over the Cowboys, the gauntlet begins with positive news. With 5 more difficult games to go. Getting 8 wins before a few potential losses was a perfect scenario for the Birds.

Following the Eagles bye week, they’ll have their Super Bowl 57 rematch visiting the Chiefs. An important win for many reasons. Super Bowl revenge! Going 9-1! The first time the Eagles would beat the Chiefs since 2009! Take your pick on what this win might mean. But taking a loss just makes the rest of the gauntlet even more must-win games.

The Bills and 49ers will follow the Chiefs game. If there’s games that look more daunting than they may actually be, it’s these teams that are currently slipping in the standings, and finding themselves on the edge of playoff positions. The Bills are currently 8th in the AFC, while the 49ers are in the 3rd seed, but tied with the Seahawks who are currently 5th.

While we won’t see these games for numerous weeks. Let’s look at the matchups we can watch for this weekend without stressing about the Eagles.

Week 10 Cheering

There’s some very fun (bad) games on this week.

From tonight’s Bears/Panthers tank-a-thon, to the Jets/Raiders Sunday Night Spectacular. There isn’t many that can impact the Eagles this week, but here are the important few:

49ers(5-3) @ Jaguars (6-2)
Saints (5-4) @ Vikings (4-5)
Giants (2-7) @ Cowboys (5-3)
Commanders (4-5) @ Seahawks (5-3)
Lions (6-2) @ Chargers (4-4)

The AFC teams aren’t nearly as important, but let’s look at each game individually.

49ers @ Jaguars

If you’re not still a fan of Doug Pederson, you’ll want to be.

The Jags have the opportunity to send the 49ers on a 4-game losing streak. Where they’d find themselves falling to the 7th seed.

Enough said for a contending team that finds themselves in Philadelphia 4 weeks from now. A bigger gap on division leaders provides the Eagles a bigger cushion on the 1st seed, and can find themselves having their playoff position locked up sooner than later.

Saints @ Vikings

Not that this game will impact playoff seeding that much.

But the Eagles still own the Saints 2nd round pick next year. Currently that pick sits at 51st overall. A few losses for the Saints could put that pick back into the mid-4o’s.

In reality, we’d want to see a Vikings win to boost that draft pick. However, with Dobbs at QB and still no Jefferson. It’s hard to say who might win this.

Giants @ Cowboys

Realistically, the Giants don’t stand a CHANCE to win this game.

The Giants already got blown out 40-0 to start the year and now they have Tommy DeVito at Quarterback.

This matchup is exactly why beating the Cowboys to get that 2.5 game lead was necessary. As they’ll most likely make it a 1.5 game lead after this game.

(Giants by a million)

Commanders @ Seahawks

The Eagles already beat the Commanders twice this year.

If they had to play them in a playoff game. They’d most likely do it a 3rd time now that the Commanders sold Montez Sweat and Chase Young to other NFC teams.

There isn’t a huge impact on this game, but watching the Commanders creep on the Cowboys could make for an interesting final stretch to the year.

Let’s call it a Commanders win to grow a lead on Seattle in the standings.