2 minutes ago, mikemack8 said:

Something I haven't seen discussed yet - assuming Hurts is cleared to play, are we going to sit him if/when we sit the rest of the starters?  Then it will have been roughly 3 weeks since he played any meaningful football.  That worries me a bit.  

It’s actually not that dissimilar from what we did in 04. The starters played the opening drive in the 2nd to last week against St Louis, then sat the rest of that game, the Bengals game, then had the bye. They were fine against Minnesota. It might concern me more if Hurts were only in his 2nd or 3rd year, but I think he’s played enough by now it’s not going to take him long to get in the flow. Hell, he’s been a slow starter all year anyway. 

14 minutes ago, DrPhilly said:

I think it is pretty obvious.  In any case, you aren't going to be able to put a model in place that is going to give you what you want and not just push the problem somewhere else.

Also, there are some real reasons why both the MLB and the NFL retain the high importance on winning the division.  Namely, for practical reasons they can't really afford to go to a setup whereby 50% (or more) of the teams make the playoffs like the NBA.  They also can't create a schedule that is balanced across all teams within a conference.  Instead, they use the concept of divisions as the first strong filter and within those divisions the teams have nearly identical schedules as a way to ensure a high level of fairness.

I just heard Rich Eisen address this issue and his response was that the NFL is a league/sport where the object is to obtain and then defend territory.  The division is one of the key territories that a team must strive to obtain and defend.  Every team understands that the first step is to win the division and every team plans accordingly.  The concept of gaining a significant advantage by "winning the division" is completely in sync with the very fiber of the game itself.

You just skipped over the scenario that shows the hypothetical where there can be as much or more significance in a late season divisional game with new rules. That scenario i have with the eagles in current set up is pretty meaningless in terms of seeding cause they’d be locked into where they are. New rules i gave would give them the potential to get a home playoff game by move up in seeding and knock the cowboys out of a top seed. That’s way more incentives and more significance than the rules currently in place.

Not that that’ll happen every time. but this theory it automatically makes it less significant isn’t entirely true. There’s scenarios where it does the opposite 

no offense it was ingrained in the fiber of baseball for nearly 100 years about no wild cards and winning the division. Things change and frankly people disagreed about adding wild card teams has made it better. I’d add people for years hated the DH in the NL. It’s far better cause it helps roster construction of teams and allows guys like Ohtani and harper to keep playing when hurt. Just cause it was in the fiber for years and decades, doesn’t mean you can’t change it. As much as i loved seeing pitchers it, i do think the DH in he NL has helped baseball 

Just now, vikas83 said:

I'd be more worried about them taking a cheap shot at an OL, or Jalen (if he played). 

I'm worried about all of them.  Rest them all.

23 minutes ago, Ace Nova said:

Who said that?  
 

The goal is and always has been the Super Bowl Championship.  
 

Fear of failure because of a "lack of rest or injury” should never be a reason to take your foot off the gas.

If you need to keep your foot on the gas as an honor to the men on your team that have worked day and night to make history - then that’s what you do.  That’s what a true leader does - true leaders aren’t scared of "this or that”.  
 

True leaders break records AND win championships. 
 

 They believe in their team and they move forward - all the way to records AND championships. 

We aren’t liberating France here.  It’s a 17 game rushing record.  It’s literally a 2 year history.  

1 minute ago, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

You just skipped over the scenario that shows the hypothetical where there can be as much or more significance in a late season divisional game with new rules. That scenario i have with the eagles in current set up is pretty meaningless in terms of seeding cause they’d be locked into where they are. New rules i gave would give them the potential to get a home playoff game by move up in seeding and knock the cowboys out of a top seed. That’s way more incentives and more significance

no offense it was ingrained in the fiber of baseball for nearly 100 years about no wild cards and winning the division. Things change and frankly people disagreed about adding wild card teams has made it better. I’d add people for years hated the DH. It’s far better cause it helps roster construction of teams and allows guys like Ohtani and harper to keep playing when hurt. 

All of that is only half of the discussion here.  The other half is that you won't be solving a problem but rather pushing it somewhere else.  Let's hear a concrete suggestion.  Keep in mind that the entire point is to try to add more "fairness" in the seeding, i.e. it can't solely be based on a better record due to the significant differences in schedules.

3 minutes ago, DrPhilly said:

I'm worried about all of them.  Rest them all.

Yeah. No upside in taking any chances. I want to see 3rd stringers out there. 

16 minutes ago, DrPhilly said:

All of that is only half of the discussion here.  The other half is that you won't be solving a problem but rather pushing it somewhere else.  Let's hear a concrete suggestion.  Keep in mind that the entire point is to try to add more "fairness" in the seeding, i.e. it can't solely be based on a better record due to the significant differences in schedules.

Everyone keeps talking about difference in schedule like no flaws with SOS. But no one is talking about when during a season you play an opponent matters. like eagles without smith and aj brown like tampa did. Only game eagles didn’t have both from start of the game. Or lions playing the rams down 4 offensive lineman, 2 starting corners and nacua for 3 quarters. That helps overall strength of schedule to get a boost and win but there’s still flaws in SOS too that aren’t accounted for.

just saying Minnesota sits at 14-2 and lions at 13-2. Tampa could be sitting at 13 wins right now… if they didn’t lose to a bad Dallas team, a banged up niners team at home and swept by a mediocre falcons team with cousins being awful the majority of the year. You know who hasn’t lost to teams like that all year to get to 13 and 14 wins… Minnesota and Detroit  I’d add if Minnesota wins Sunday, they and Detroit are 5-1 inside their division. Division games are supposed to matter more… meanwhile at best Tampa could be is 4-2 in their division  

 

 

 

Weird stat: 
 

Philadelphia has never gotten third place in the 2002 divisional setup

The starters should play at least the first half on Sunday.  I’ve seen too many teams rest all their players in the final regular season game, then come out very flat in a wildcard game.  The Eagles have had problems this season starting games slowly; a slow start against GB/WAS could be fatal to their championship hopes.

Any decision about resting guys shouldn’t be dependent on an individual player record, but overall team health.

36 minutes ago, Freshmilk said:

Friday reps if I recall, not Wed-Thurs.

Idk, Lane said "all week" I thought I heard that but it doesn't matter, we'll see what they decide.

2 hours ago, LeanMeanGM said:

Ertz got $750k all because the Falcons kicker sucks and went to OT

Eagles traded the wrong TE. Baltimore got a 2nd round pick for Hayden Hurst before 2020. I really think the Eagles could have gotten a bigger return for Goedert at that time. Since 2021, Ertz and Goedert's numbers are extremely close with an edge in yards going to Goedert and the edge in TDs going to Ertz. I don't think this team is that different if they have Ertz instead of Goedert. 

1 minute ago, Alphagrand said:

The starters should play at least the first half on Sunday.  I’ve seen too many teams rest all their players in the final regular season game, then come out very flat in a wildcard game.  The Eagles have had problems this season starting games slowly; a slow start against GB/WAS could be fatal to their championship hopes.

Any decision about resting guys shouldn’t be dependent on an individual player record, but overall team health.

One thing to factor is we had a very early bye week this year (Week 5). So it’s been a long time since the guys have been able to give their bodies a rest. May be a factor which plays into the decision. 

Early forecast for wild card weekend is high of mid 20's. Coldest days of the NFL season. Playoff weather.

Just now, bpac55 said:

Eagles traded the wrong TE. Baltimore got a 2nd round pick for Hayden Hurst before 2020. I really think the Eagles could have gotten a bigger return for Goedert at that time. Since 2021, Ertz and Goedert's numbers are extremely close with an edge in yards going to Goedert and the edge in TDs going to Ertz. I don't think this team is that different if they have Ertz instead of Goedert. 

Our run game wouldn't be the same with Ertz over Goedert.

First quarter issues in playoff games is probably more to do with playoff jitters and playing better teams than it is rust. More correlation for resting guys than causation.

48 minutes ago, mattwill said:

Dotson has been all Decoy all the time.

If there were an accolade in the league for decoys, Dotson would be decoy of the year.

1 minute ago, bpac55 said:

Eagles traded the wrong TE. Baltimore got a 2nd round pick for Hayden Hurst before 2020. I really think the Eagles could have gotten a bigger return for Goedert at that time. Since 2021, Ertz and Goedert's numbers are extremely close with an edge in yards going to Goedert and the edge in TDs going to Ertz. I don't think this team is that different if they have Ertz instead of Goedert. 

Could be misremembering but i think Ertz (besides just age between goedert and ertz,) was that he wanted to be paid like a top tight end and they didn’t want to at 31 coming off an injury plagued season prior. 

4 minutes ago, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

Everyone keeps talking about difference in schedule. But no one is talking about when during a season you also might play an opponent matters. like eagles without smith and aj brown like tampa did. Or lions playing the rams down 4 offensive lineman, 2 starting corners and nacua for 3 quarters. That helps overall strength of schedule to get a boost but there’s still flaws in SOS too that aren’t accounted for.

 

The difference is RATHER large.  Teams in the division have 14 of 17 games that are against the same teams (including the 2 games they play against each other).  If you take two teams in the same conference but different divisions when those divisions don't play each other the number drops way down to 4-7 out of 17 depending on how the extra game in the other conference goes (i.e. Jags was that game for the Eagles this year) AND depending on whether they play each other or not.  From 14 down to 7 or worse.

Give me your suggestion as to how it would work.  Even if we remove all the rivalry type stuff a change will still need to stack up and deliver more "fairness" in seeding for it to be considered "useful".  I'm not seeing it.

1 hour ago, eagle45 said:

That's absolutely part of it.  But that's only one side of the coin, and, IMO, the smaller driver of it.  

Passing is sustainable.  Elite QB's have long careers.  So do elite WRs.  They don't get injured often.  And throwing the ball 30+ times doesn't make a QB that much more likely to get hurt.  WR useage doesn't have too much of a correlation with injuries, longevity, or productivity falloff.  

RBs, historically, are a bad investment.  More injuries, less availability, more deterioration after excessive utilization.  It's not just the rules.  It's that the running game isn't sustainable.  

 

If we only have so many carries in Barkley's legs, don't waste a single one on a play that isn't bringing us closer to a SB.  I'm more worried about rest than injury.  Think starting pitcher in October who has just thrown too many innings.  And...for 2025 regular season...that's already going to be diminishing returns after this kind of utilization.

 

I think everyone is just in la la land enthralled with what Barkley has done this year and thinks the rules don't apply anymore, not to Barkley, not to us.  That does of reality gets closer with every single carry.  It's best to keep as many of those in the tank as possible.

Funny part is... the QB salary is not sustainable.  So, going back to the running game offers a much cheaper alternative to allow a less talented passer to be much more of a game manager, build up the defense and put your assets into a position that's actually much more easily replaced than the QB.

I think the pendulum is going to start to really swing back to more running in the next couple years.  The Ravens with Henry, and the Eagles with Barkley might be changing the roster building process.  Its far easier to get the RB that you can lean on vs the QB that you can put the game on.  It comes down to having a good OL, obviously, but its easier to run block than pass block as well.   It shortens games, rests your defense, and limits the possessions of your opponent. 

28 minutes ago, DrPhilly said:

Well, we can argue all day about whether the rivalries would be less important or not.  In any case, there isn't a solution that doesn't just push the problem somewhere else.  Let's flip this around now.  Please put out a concrete suggestion and we can see how it stacks up.

The concrete suggestion has already been made though. Win division = guaranteed playoffs. Total record = playoff seeding. 

15 minutes ago, eagle45 said:

We aren’t liberating France here.  It’s a 17 game rushing record.  It’s literally a 2 year history.  

Speaking of France, I’m headed to Paris for New Year’s Eve tomorrow.  🎉

 

That said, stop being scared - no one wins championships by letting fear take over. 
 

Focus on these words:  

Fear only creates anxiety and woes.  
 

True confidence and determination will create an undying belief that naturally leads to success. 

 

Does anyone watch the Eagle Eye Podcast with Reub and Dave? Goodness gracious, how big is Reub's belly? He's started to use it as a resting place for his hands and his hands are nearly touching the microphone. It's beyond distracting. 

4 minutes ago, DrPhilly said:

The difference is RATHER large.  Teams in the division have 14 of 17 games that are against the same teams (including the 2 games they play against each other).  If you take two teams in the same conference but different divisions when those divisions don't play each other the number drops way down to 4-7 out of 17 depending on how the extra game in the other conference goes (i.e. Jags was that game for the Eagles this year) AND depending on whether they play each other or not.  From 14 down to 7 or worse.

Give me your suggestion as to how it would work.  Even if we remove all the rivalry type stuff a change will still need to stack up and deliver more "fairness" in seeding for it to be considered "useful".  I'm not seeing it.

My suggestion division winners granted a playoff berth and tiebreaker if they have the same record as a WC.

Furthermore if we are taking in SOS then i think SOS of division games should also matter. Can say Tampa bay and Texans had tougher overall schedule. meanwhile both are about to play the two easiest SOS of division opponents of anyone in the nfl. 

Regarding Barkley, it really felt to me like the Eagles tipped their hat by taking Saquon off the field with over 10 mins to go.  If they were going to go for the record then he would have stayed on the field.