Eagles React to Bye, Homefield Advantage, Which the Phillies Showed is Huge

After each clinching round of the Phillies’ improbable trip to the World Series last fall, there were players standing around shirtless, wearing ski goggles, and awaiting their champagne baths.

The Eagles won the NFC East and wrapped up the No. 1 seed in the playoffs with a 14-3 record after beating the New York Giants, 22-16, on Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field and there was some celebrating – loud music, some whooping and hollering, and plenty of hugging.

Obligatory hats and shirts were handed out, too.

Other than that, the mood was a bit muted. More work to do and all that.

“It was a fun year,” said RB Miles Sanders, who had a career-high 1,269 yards rushing with a career-high 11 touchdowns. “Everybody going out there and balling, being hungry and eating everything on the plate.

"...But we’re not done. We gotta get this stuff rolling. We got a lot to clean up and get back to work this week and get ready for this run.”

Unlike baseball, the NFL becomes a one-and-done season in the playoffs.

One thing that is the same about both sports, at least here in South Philly, is the fans.

Citizens Bank was awash in a sea of red during the Phillies’ run, the stadium so loud that the building shook, and the decibel levels reached such great heights they reverberated through the neighborhoods surrounding the stadium complex.

Lincoln Financial Field will be the same way when the Eagles open their playoff run in two weeks.

“This place is going to be rocking,” said A.J. Brown, who stands alone as the franchise’s single-season yardage leader with 1,496. “It is going to be a hard place to play here. I am pretty sure that the game is going to be at night.”

That’s the beauty of securing the top seed – no more road games. Two more home victories and the next trip is to the Super Bowl in Glendale, Ariz.

Perhaps even bigger than that is the bye. The Eagles will sit, rest, and maybe watch, as six teams get eliminated this weekend.

“It’s a big advantage,” said center Jason Kelce, who ran his streak of consecutive starts to 139 on Sunday. “The bye helps after a long grueling season. And home-field advantage is big, especially at the Linc.

“I still have fond memories from some of the playoff games that year (2017), like the Minnesota game and the environment. I’m excited to get out there in a couple weeks and play a playoff game.”

The bye will be beneficial for plays such as RT Lane Johnson to get more rest and treatment on his torn abductor muscle in hopes that he can be of service in the postseason. No guarantees about that.

It will help Jalen Hurts’ throwing shoulder, which coach Nick Sirianni hurt badly and was sore on Sunday but the QB played through it.

Perhaps CB Avonte Maddox can get well, too, from a toe injury that still had him in a walking boot last week.

“I think we all have been waiting for the playoffs to start ever since we clinched the playoffs,’ said tight end Dallas Goedert, who still had 55 catches for 702 yards and two touchdowns despite a shoulder injury that caused him to miss five games.

“We actually had more work to do in the regular season, so it feels really good, and I think we have a really special team. Hopefully, we get a couple of guys back and be rolling for the playoffs.”

How the Eagles will spend the bye week isn’t clear.

They will likely work on their red-zone shortcomings against the Giants in which they converted only one of five trips there into a touchdown.

What they won’t do is take a full week off like they would during a regular-season bye. The stakes are much higher now.

The plan was still unfolding on Monday as head coach Nick Sirianni gave his players off.

“Obviously, the bye is awesome to get guys’ legs back," said Kelce. "It’s also a week that you can use to your advantage. Getting back out there, putting pads on in practice, which is something we haven’t done in a long time. Do some technique things.

“You get away from the game-plan-specific preparation. You get more personal improvement. I think having that extra week to really just focus on that, as a player … preparing on who the next opponent can be. We’ll have a lot of film to watch.”

Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglesmaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.

Add us as a preferred source on Google