Eagles 2020 NFL Schedule: 10 Takeaways

The NFL released the schedules for all 32 teams on Thursday night

Here are my 10 takeaways for the Eagles:

1. This schedule looks like a 3-0 start before things get a bit bumpy.

With two of their first three games at home and a nearby road game to begin the year in Washington, the Eagles should be able to make some early hay with the Rams and Bengals coming to town. Getting rookie Joe Burrow in his third start is a positive and the Rams were 4-4 on the road last year.

Playing a Redskins team with Ron Rivera making his Washington coaching debut could be problematic, but I’d like the Redskins to win a little better if Rivera wasn’t a new coach and presumably hampered by having to install his system in a virtual world.

2. Speaking of Washington, it will be interesting to see how Ronald Darby holds up against the speed of the Eagles’ receivers, specifically DeSean Jackson and Jalen Reagor. I’m going to say the Eagles are going to like the matchup against their former player.

3. There are no three-game road trips like last year when the Eagles played three straight on the road and went 1-2. There are, however, three sets of two-game trips and maybe the most difficult of that triumvirate is the first one: back-to-back trips to San Francisco and Pittsburgh on Oct. 4 and 11, respectively. It’s not so much the travel, but the teams. Both are very good and both will be at home.

4. Going into the bye week, which comes at a perfect time - exactly in the middle of the schedule – the Eagles play three straight home games: Ravens, Giants, Cowboys. The Giants game is on a short week right after playing Baltimore, but the good news is the Eagles will have 10 days off before playing the Cowboys.

5. The bad news coming out of the bye week is that five of the Eagles’ final eight games are away from home, including the first two after the week off: at the Giants followed by a trip to the Browns.

6. The Eagles are scheduled to play at least four regular-season primetime games for the 14th consecutive season. Since 2007, they have played in 61 combined regular-season primetime games, which is tied for the third-most by any NFL team in that span.

7. The long-standing tradition of the Eagles and Cowboys playing a nationally televised, primetime game in every season except one dating back to 2007 will continue. The only time that didn’t happen was when the two teams played on Thanksgiving Day in 2014.

8. The toughest stretch of games appears to be Nov. 30 through Dec. 6 when the Eagles will host the Seattle Seahawks on Monday Night Football, go to Green Bay on a short week to play the Packers then return home to host Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints. Not that the schedule eases up much after that with trips to Arizona followed by one to Dallas.

9. Think about this: in a three-week span the Eagles’ defense will face quarterbacks Russell Wilson, Aaron Rodgers, and Brees.

Wilson has never lost to the Eagles. He is 4-0 against them.

Rodgers will be no doubt be seeking revenge from last year’s loss to Philly when he failed to put his team in the end zone with four pass attempts late in what turned into a 34-27 loss. He is 3-2 against the Eagles.

Brees is 4-3 against Philly.

10. It’s annoying that the NFL schedule makers continue to demonstrate a lack of creativity when it comes to Eagles openers. This will be the third time in four years the two teams will have opened the season against each other.

Meanwhile, the two other NFC East team - the Giants and Cowboys – get some “fun” openers. New York will host the Steelers on Monday Night Football while the Cowboys will play on Sunday Night Football against the Rams in L.A.’s new stadium.