Eagles 2024 Schedule Reaction

Forget about wins and losses, the key is to look for the themes in any NFL schedule.

Lincoln Financial Field / John McMullen/Eagles SI

Philadelphia - The Eagles 2024 schedule has been official.

Here's our instant reactions:

HOMESICK EARLY, HOME COOKING LATE

Week 1 in Sao Paulo, Brazil against the Green Bay Packers might be a good idea for the NFL and the business side of the NovaCare Complex in an attempt to open up the South American market with two marquee teams in Brazil. That said, the Eagles losing a real home game to a neutral field against another projected playoff contender isn't optimal from a pure football perspective.

New Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio wasn't talking about Week 1 but he did emphasize how important every game in the NFL is last week when comparing his love of Major League Baseball with his current profession.

"I used to say, before [the NFL] went to 17 games, every one of our games was worth 10 in Major League Baseball. Because we had 16, and they had 162. So, when we lost 2 in a row, that was like losing 20 in a row in baseball.

"That kind of paints a good picture for people who don’t realize that."

Playing the Packers at Lincoln Financial Field doesn't guarantee anything but the Eagles would surely be a more substantive favorite than the early minus-1.5 they are currently on the betting markets.

More so, between that "home opener at Arena Corinthians in Brazil and a Week 6 home game against Jim Schwartz and the Cleveland Browns, the Eagles will play just one game at Lincoln Financial Field, a Week 2 Monday night game against Kirk Cousins and the Atlanta Falcons. The Eagles facing Cousins in Week 2 is becoming an annual NFL scheduling quirk by the way as this will be the third consecutive year.

The lack of home action early means more late.

The Eagles will play four home games over the final five weeks of the regular season for the first time since 1951 (it also happened in 1933, 1934, 1944, 1945, 1947, and 1948). The run starts Week 14 against Carolina on Dec. 1 and continues seven days later against cross-state rival Pittsburgh. The lone road game in the final five games is Dec. 22 at Washington and the Eagles then finish the season at Lincoln Financial Field against their other NFC East rivals, Dallas and the New York Giants in Weeks 17 and 18.

Following a "Sunday Night Football" matchup on the road against the Los Angeles Rams in Week 12, the Eagles will not have to travel by plane over the season's last six weeks.

SAQUON BACK TO METLIFE ON OCT. 20

There were a lot of hurt feelings up the Jersey Turnpike when Saquon Barkley defected to the Eagles in free agency even though the Giants organization didn't seem all that interested in bringing the 2018 No. 2 overall pick back after his six seasons there resultied in little winning.

The truth is that Barkley is a bad fit for a rebuilding team like the Giants and a potential difference-maker with a ready-made contender like the Eagles. For the Giants fan base, however, there's going to be a lot of emotion on Oct. 20 stemming from a flawed narrative that their favorite team wanted to run it back with the talented back.

The home-and-home rematch against the Giants is again Week 18 to end the regular season, the third straight year the Eagles have closed things out against New York. The better bet there is that Barkley won't be playing either because the Eagles are resting key players for the postseason or the team has greatly underachieved and pulled the plug on a risky decision to invest in a position the franchise typically does not.

EARLY BYE WEEK

The Eagles will have their bye week after the first month of the season closes with a road game at Tampa Bay, the third time in a calendar year Philadelphia will make the trek down Dale Mabry Boulevard to Raymond James Stadium.

Philadelphia routed the Bucs early in Week 3 of the 2023 season and Tampa Bay won the much more important rematch in the postseason. After the bye in Week 5, the next 13 consecutive weeks offer no respite other than the mini-bye after a Week 11 Thursday night game against Washington. That's tough duty in Jonathan Gannon parlance.

NO GAUNTLET:

There's no real gauntlet in this schedule on paper. Last season many eyeballed five weeks bookended by the home-and-home series against Dallas with contests against Kansas City, Buffalo, and San Francisco in between.

The Eagles started well beating the Cowboys at Lincoln Financial Field before their bye week to move to 8-1. Philadelphia came out of the bye with tough wins at Kansas City and against Buffalo before the wheels fell off with blowout losses to San Francisco and at Dallas that seemed to shake the team to its core.

This season, the perceived tougher opponents are spread out. Green Bay in Week 1, Cincinnati in Week 8, The Cowboys in Week 10, Baltimore in Week 13, and the Cowboys rematch in Week 17. If you want to stretch to Cleveland, that's Week 6, Jacksonville is Week 9, the LA Rams are Week 12 and Pittsburgh is Week 15.

The toughest three-week stretch on paper is Weeks 8 through 10, which is at Cincinnati, followed by the Jags at home on "Sunday Night Football," and at Dallas.

NO SUNDAY NIGHT COWBOYS?

Death, taxes and the Eagles and Cowboys on Sunday night.

Not this year, at least to start, but don't be surprised if flex scheduling, which now stretches from Week 5 to 17 moves one of them. Both games between the two teams -- Week 10 at Philly and Week 17 at Dallas -- are 4:25 starts so that is indicative of networks fighting for that national late game.

The Eagles have five scheduled primetime games for the third year in a row and have appeared in the second-most primetime games (105) in this century. The Cowboys are No. 1.

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