A Good Week

[time2rock]

A Good Week

Posted: November 26th, 2021 | Author: Tommy Lawlor

The Eagles don’t play until Sunday, but this has been a good week so far. Somehow the Eagles are only two games out of first place in the NFC East. That seemed like a ridiculous notion just a few weeks ago, but here we are.

The Cowboys fell behind the Raiders, 17-6, on Thursday. The Dallas woke up and got going. They tied the game at 33 and forced overtime. The Raiders came out of their turkey coma and won the game on a field goal late in overtime.

That is now two straight losses for Dallas and 3 out of 4. When you combine that with the Eagles winning 3 out of 4, suddenly you have an actual race for the NFC East title.

DAL  7-4
PHI  5-6

If the Eagles can win on Sunday, the lead is down to 1.5 games.

The Cowboys have all the pressure on them. They were 6-1 not too long ago and being talked about as a Super Bowl contender. They have a star QB in Dak Prescott and a good set of skill players. They have a pair of young defensive stars doing crazy things. This looked like it might be their year.

Or not.

Injuries and sloppy play have led to some ugly losses and a losing streak. Meanwhile, the Eagles have found an identity and are playing their best football of the year. Anything the Eagles do is gravy. Dallas is the team with heavy expectations and serious pressure.

If the Eagles can’t steal the division title, they have a solid chance at a wild card spot. The Saints lost on Thanksgiving night, dropping them to 5-6. The Eagles beat them head to head so the Eagles are currently 8th in the playoff standings. The first seven teams make it so the Eagles are just on the outside. The 7th team is the Niners, who beat the Eagles back in Week 2.

There is a lot of football to be played and the Eagles must keep winning or all this goes out the window. It is impressive to see a team that looked like such a mess at 2-5  has kept battling and gotten themselves back into postseason contention.

*****

Cool.

Why do the deal, though? This is just a 1-year extension.

I think it works for both sides.

The Eagles reward Edwards for how well he has played this year. He’s become the team’s best LB, making plays in the run game and the pass game. He’s brought a level of physicality that had been missing from the middle of the defense.

Still, it is fair for the Eagles to want to see if Edwards is truly a long term solution at LB. Alex Singleton was impressive last year, but he’s been all over the place this season. This extension buys the Eagles time to figure out if Edwards is the real deal.

Edwards gets some money, but still has a chance to hit free agency in his prime. He’s betting on himself.

Fran Duffy focused on Edwards at the end of his All-22 Review this week. You should watch the whole thing. Great stuff from Franimal.

*****

Mark Schofield wrote an excellent piece on the Eagles. Make sure you read this.

Lots of good insight in there.

*****

This hot take from Emmanuel Acho turned pretty cold in a hurry.

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The Eagles benefited from recent games in draft position as well as the playoff standings.

It would be nice to see the Dolphins and Colts get back to losing games so those picks go even higher.

http://igglesblitz.com/2021/11/a-good-week/

[PoconoDon]

I can't root against the Eagles so, I need Miami and the Wentz led Colts to go on extended losing streaks. That is all.

[UK_EaglesFan89]

14 minutes ago, PoconoDon said:

I can't root against the Eagles so, I need Miami and the Wentz led Colts to go on extended losing streaks. That is all.

I fear the Phins are going to go on a bit of a run and end up just outside of the top 10. I hope I'm wrong though.