Philly Front Office

Last week was a pretty crazy slate of football games. There were upsets, bad wins, and plenty of blown games. Meanwhile the Eagles took care of business on the road against a good team in freezing weather, but we are the ones everyone criticizes. Heavy is the head that wears the crown. Let’s take a look at the storylines around the league to see what and why in watching each game.

Thursday Night Football

• New York Jets at New England Patriots
  • The Jets shot themselves in the foot last week with multiple kick return TDs. They didn’t just win, they beat a team they are in direct competition with in their race to the #1 pick. Even worse, this was after they gutted their team!!!
  • By beating the Bucs last week, that was the last possible bump in the Drake Maye MVP race. He is going to win. He’s good, but the level of competition he’s faced is terrible and it won’t get any better. I’m not saying he is anywhere near the best player in the league, but the race is all but over. Get your money on him now while you can.

The Eagles Have a (Good) Nakobe Dean Problem

Sunday Morning in Europe

• Washington Commanders vs Miami Dolphins in Madrid, Spain at 9:30a EST
  • I literally laughed out loud when I saw the ad for this game. Why do we do this to Europe? I know it was supposed to be two possible playoff teams, but damn this stinks for the viewing public
  • Washington put up no resistance to Detroit last week without Jayden Daniels. If they don’t win this week, it is time for them to think about sitting him the rest of the season even when he is healthy enough to come back. Losing out is absolutely on the table without him and they need all the draft help they can get. Congrats to all the GMs wise enough to trade with them this past offseason.
  • Miami, what were you thinking??? I know Josh Allen was giving the game away, but you didn’t have to take it! This is a winnable game and they can kiss their draft dreams goodbye if they manage to take advantage.

1pm Games

• Carolina Panthers at Atlanta Falcons
  • Carolina magic only works in trap games. After a great win over the Packers, the Panthers predictably lost to the Saints. This tells me that they are a well coached team, but not a talented team.
  • Of course, they are facing a Falcons team this week that thinks it’s a good team which means they will likely look past Carolina and trap themselves. The Falcons absolutely blew it against Indy last week. This team is the opposite of Carolina, talented but poorly coached.
• Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Buffalo Bills
  • That was a pretty big home loss for the Bucs last week. They were part of the four-team NFC log jam at 2 losses but now drop back into a different four-team mess at 3 losses. Things are tight. Even though we own the tiebreaker, I wouldn’t mind another loss this week for good measure.
  • Don’t let a win over KC and a destruction of QB-less Carolina fool you, the Bills are a mess. Losing to the Dolphins is simply unacceptable from a contender. Allen was making horrible decisions and they had no answers collectively. Maybe it was a trap game, maybe it was the old Miami flu, but if Buffalo thought it could simply coast to another playoff exit to the Chiefs this season, they are sorely mistaken.
• Houston Texans at Tennessee Titans
  • Houston’s Davis Mills led comeback over Jacksonville last week saved their season. With two games left against the Colts, they can still win this division, but there is no room for error. They cannot look past the Titans this week. No CJ Stroud again…is that a bad thing?
  • The Eagles had a great bye week before the Packers game with all their rivals and competition losing. Tennessee just pulled off the same feat with the Dolphins, Jets, and Saints all clearing the way for the Titans to ascend unaccompanied to the top of the bottom of the standings. Everyone TCB this week and don’t try to get frisky against a Texans team that needs the win (I have no idea why I am invested in the Texans coming back and making the playoffs)
• Chicago Bears at Minnesota Vikings
  • Bears fans have to be so relieved with last week’s win. It’s not just that they came back and beat a bad Giants team, but walking in that’s the kind of game an overachieving Bears team ALWAYS loses and drops back to Earth. This week is much better competition and can really solidify the Bears as a legit playoff team.
  • A brutal loss for the Vikings last week kicks them out of the playoff race. They are a QB short and that’s not something they can come back from. They will likely give McCarthy another year, but things are not looking good for the former top-10 pick.
• Cincinnati Bengals at Pittsburgh Steelers
  • Looks like Joe Burrow is practicing again, but even his return isn’t going to help much. Afterall, Joe Flacco has been killing it and they still aren’t winning. The schedule coming up is rough too. Just a brutal season in Cincy.
  • Pittsburgh is going to slowly fall out of the playoffs as the season goes on. They may win this week, but this is not a good football team. They aren’t bad either, but once Baltimore passes them, they’ll be out of the playoffs.
• Los Angeles Chargers at Jacksonville Jaguars
  • The barometer strikes again. The Steelers are the measuring stick for good and bad teams. The Chargers beat them handily after the worst showing of Aaron Rodgers’ career. That leaves the Chargers at a surprising 7-3 with one game left against each of Denver and KC. Let’s see if Justin Herbert has it in him to not collapse (he doesn’t).
  • Jacksonville blowing it against Houston was the worst loss of the week. Just when they were looking like a solid playoff team, they blow a 29-10 4th quarter lead. Add that to the Travis Hunter debacle and they have themselves a looming disaster. Even with the tiebreak, they seem like the team that will let the Chiefs back in the party.
• Green Bay Packers at New York Giants
  • First, thank you to the people of Green Bay for being the nicest hosts possible to a rowdy bunch of Eagles fans. Second, that was a win they needed to have in order to stay in the race for the top seed or at least a home playoff game. Now they are down a tiebreak to the Eagles and sit 3rd in their division. They beat the Lions to start the year but do not have any other good wins.
  • Oh Giants (sad face). What an amazing loss last week, the cherry on the sundae of so many lost Sundays and finally Brian Daboll was fired. Who should lead the search to fix this mistake, well the guy who made all the other mistakes naturally! They fired the coach (who never should have been brought back this season) but are keeping the GM, Joe Schoen (who also never should have been brought back this season). Now Dart is hurt and the best the Giants can hope for is another good draft pick.¹

Eagles Postgame: The People of Green Bay

4pm Games

• Seattle Seahawks at Los Angeles Rams
  • This is the first meeting between these teams and it will tell us quite a bit. Both are 7-2 and largely untested (despite what you read in power rankings). The Rams best win of the season was last week’s win over the 49ers (who they also lost to) and over the Colts who I do not believe in one bit. The Seahawks are winning pretty easy but have lost to the only above average teams they’ve faced. A good game and we can assume both are still contenders. A lopsided one though tells us that someone was just pretending.
  • Either way, this means one team is going to fall from the NFC two-loss club.
• San Francisco 49ers at Arizona Cardinals
  • The 49ers needed that win last week. It would have kept them at 3 losses but with some good tie breakers. Now they find themselves on the outside looking in on the playoffs with 4 losses. The schedule lightens up considerably with Arizona, Carolina, Cleveland and Tennessee coming up so they can’t let down. I hope they do.
  • Despite beating Dallas 2 weeks ago, the Cardinals are doing what they are supposed to. Lose. Their schedule is pretty tough, so they are in good shape. Of course, they also have a serious Kyler Murray problem to deal with. They are looking at a $50m cap hit on him next season no matter if they keep him or release him. They need to cut bait though. He’s not taking them where they need to go…how about Tanner McKee???
• Baltimore Ravens at Cleveland Browns
  • Baltimore is going to win their division. A few weeks ago, I looked at their schedule and saw how easy it gets, knew Lamar Jackson would return, and called it. With two games against Pittsburgh on the horizon, it’s going to happen. Jackson doesn’t lose to bad teams either.
  • Great work losing to the Jets, Cleveland. They are technically in the 5th spot in the draft, but only because they’ve played one less game. In reality, their strength of schedule is so bad that they are sitting in 2nd and just a Titans win away from the top pick. It’s all there for them, they just have to keep losing.
• Kansas City Chiefs at Denver Broncos
  • Every time we think the Chiefs are dead, someone lets them back in. Of course, that is usually Buffalo, but this time it’s Jacksonville. The Texans gave KC a huge gift last week with that big comeback. Of course, now they need to beat the Broncos who are somehow surviving each week. If the Chiefs lose this one, they will be flirting with death the rest of the season. Who would have thought the Jags and Chiefs would be dance partners this season?
  • Last week was another terrible win for Denver, their 7th straight, a 10-7 snore-fest against the Raiders. Four of their wins are 1-score victories over terrible teams like the Titans, Jets, Giants, and Raiders. This is their first meeting with KC and, even though I hate the Chiefs, I may hate Sean Payton more. I want them to get their teeth punched in.

Sunday Night Football

• Detroit Lions at Philadelphia Eagles
  • The Lions are sitting just behind the Eagles, Seahawks, and Rams in the NFC. Even with the Seattle LA matchup this week, they can’t afford to drop another game and a tiebreak in the standings. Of course, they are also tied with the Bears for their division and play again the final week of the season. This is a much bigger game for Detroit than Philadelphia.
  • Every week teams are playing their Super Bowl against the Eagles. It was clear as day last week that the Packers felt this way and Detroit will be no different. They believe they would have beaten us last year in the NFC championship had they not turned the ball over FIVE TIMES. The Eagles are at home but are dealing with issues on offense. Detroit isn’t the best matchup to work those kinds of things out.

Monday Night Football

• Dallas Cowboys at Las Vegas Raiders
  • Dallas made the big trade to bring in Quinnen Williams at the deadline and finally get to see if he helps the defense. Of course, they also had the tragedy of losing Marshawn Kneeland too. The latter might end up having a bigger effect on the team. As much as I want to kill them for the trade, I won’t this week.
  • The Raiders are a bad team. They somehow beat the Patriots in week 1 and have lost to all but the worst team in the league since then. This is a damn near talentless roster that should have sold everything it could at the deadline but didn’t. It will be very funny if they win this week, but I’m not betting on it.

1. What are they thinking keeping him and letting him hire the next coach? This basically ties him to the franchise for another 3 years. GMs and HCs work together to form the roster. Firing Schoen in a year after he already picks a coach will probably lead to the next coach being fired too. Clean the slate Giants, you need it! ↩︎