Confidence And An NFC East Title: Eagles Are Starting To Take Off

LANDOVER, Md. - The T-shirts read "Been There, Won That." The hats were for the first repeat NFC East champions in over two decades.

Winning has become a habit for the Philadelphia Eagles, who also clinched their fifth consecutive postseason appearnce with a 29-18 win over the Washing Commanders on Saturday night.

For the core of this team, the raised expectations that have produced two NFC championships and a Super Bowl LIX championship over the past four seasons, it's business as usual.

Back To Work

"Going to enjoy it the rest of the night," wide receiver DeVonta Smith said. "Back to work on Monday."

For Saquon Barkley, who suffered through six seasons with a New York Giants team unable to win an NFC East division crown from 2018 to 2023, back to back ain't bad.

"Yeah, I mean you gotta be present in the moment," the star running back said after running for 132 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries. "Enjoy it. Back-to-back NFC East champions, something like you said, hasn't been done in 20 years. It's a big deal."

It is a big deal but the Eagles locker room was subdued if anything, filled with veterans who understand a division totle followed by a poor player performance would mean little.

This is more of a building block for a team trying to capture the lightning of playing its best football in January for a second consecutive season.

"We're trending in the way we want to so we just have to keep building," Barkley said.

At 10-5 the Eagles have bigger fish to fray with a real chance to rise to the No. 2 seed in the conference, the same position they started last season when the top seed, Detroit, was upset and the NFC Championship Game ended up being in Philadelphia.

Next up in the first significant competition in three weeks, the powerful Buffalo Bills, who are lead by MVP candidate Josh Allen.

The one thing using the Las Vegas Raiders and Commanders as scrimmage opponents over the last six days has provided Philadelphia is confidence.

"I think we are getting there," Smith said. "I feel like we made some improvements tonight and have to finish drives."

And "getting there" is more than a hat and T-shirt game.

"I'm gonna wear this stuff home," tight end Dallas Goedert said while referring to his NFC East championship swag. "My mom and pops are here so I'm gonna show it to them but I think a lot of this locker room is already over it and moving on to the next thing. Winning the division is the first step but we got a lot more to do."

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