Week 7 May Be Early For a Bye, But the Eagles Will Take It

Jordan Malaita said he felt like his right shoulder was on fire.

He sat on a chair at his locker following the Eagles’ 2-17 win over the Cowboys, which sent them into their bye week at a perfect 6-0, and talked about how he was going to sacrifice a few days of fun by sticking around the team’s facility to get treatment during the bye.

There’s always the question of whether the bye comes too soon or too late. Rarely is it just right.

Last year, the Eagles had to wait until Week 14 to take a break.

“Honestly, I wish we had a couple more games and I wish it was right in the middle, but it’s all good,” said Brandon Graham, 34. “Still, six games in. We have 11 more. I’ve been on some that was Week 4 and we had to go 12 more.

"It came at the right time for me, because I am getting up there, but I want to get my body back and get ready for the long haul.”

The Eagles have done a good job managing Graham’s snaps so far this season, trying to get him through 17 games and beyond.

Fletcher Cox, 31, played 50 snaps (75%) against Dallas, more than defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon probably would have liked. He also played 70% against the Cardinals and 74% against the Jaguars, so Cox probably will take this bye too.

As for the offensive line, it is more than just Mailata who is bruised and battered.

Every member of it has missed snaps. Nobody up front has played all of them.

Center Jason Kelce stood at his locker Sunday night with his left ankle wrapped and a pair of flip-flops on and said: “With my ankle, I’m sure happy about it. Hopefully, we can get healthy. The offensive line’s been pretty banged up, so it allows us to get a week to hopefully recover.”

Perhaps the biggest concern injury-wise is right tackle Lane Johnson, who came out of last week’s game with a concussion suffered late in the first half.

It was the 32-yard-old’s third concussion in the last five years, and that is concerning, to say the least when it comes to the future health of a player’s brain.

Kelce said he spoke a bit to Johnson following the team’s recent win and “it’s definitely not ideal.”

The center has played with Johnson since the RT entered the league in 2013.

“Lane’s an irreplaceable guy,” said Kelce. “To have a guy like Lane Johnson out there, I don’t want to hype him up, but I don’t think we’re worried about playing any edge defender, quite frankly. I

"I think he’s been the best pass-blocking right tackle in the league for some time. He’s about as dominating of a physical player as there is in the league.”

Johnson is expected back coming out of the bye and into Week 8 against the Steelers at Lincoln Financial Field.

The trick now is staying healthy.

It’s a long haul on the other side of the bye, like Graham said.

It’s 11 games, It’s softened a bit by the Week 9 Thursday night game in Houston four days after playing the Steelers.

The Eagles have what amounts to a mini-bye after playing the Texans since they don’t play again until the Commanders visit the Linc for a Monday night game 11 days later.

“After that Thursday game we’ll have nine games straight,” said Kelce. “That’s a long run. I’ll let you know how I like (the Week 7 bye) at Week 14.”

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.

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