Philadelphia Eagles announce their most puzzling roster moves of 2020

Okay, no one knows what the Philadelphia Eagles are thinking at this point.

There’s only one question that can be asked at this point. Where was all of this effort last week? With the season on the line, in Week 16, the Philadelphia Eagles walked into AT&T Stadium and laid a goose-sized egg versus the rival Dallas Cowboys. Birds fans could only shake their heads as the season-long dumpster fire was finally consumed by its own flame.

Terms like ‘must-win game’ have been used so frequently that they’ve truly lost their sting, but Week 16 was absolutely a must-win game for the Philadelphia Eagles. Every Birds fan and every member of the franchise knew, for the season to carry on, that two things had to happen.

The Washington Football Team had to lose to the Carolina Panthers in D.C., and Philadelphia had to take care of their own business in Arlington. Things went according to plan in our nation’s capital, but the Birds, after jumping out to a 14-0 lead, lost by a score of 37-17.

Put this one in the category of pathetic performances like that Thanksgiving Day massacre in Detroit, a lazy effort in Cincinnati back in 2016, the annihilation this team experienced in New Orleans in 2018, and that tail kicking Philly took in Minnesota at the hands of the Vikings in 2019. All were losses. All made fans wonder why this team bothered to get off of the bus.

Here’s what’s most disappointing. Now, that the nightmare is over and now that the Eagles are officially the only team that has no shot at making the NFL Playoffs in the league’s worst division, Philly seems to have gotten a shot in the arm, but why now?

So, this no-hat rule is a real thing for the Philadelphia Eagles, huh?

After Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz announced to the entire football world that the Eagles had no intention of allowing Washington to celebrate a division title on their field, a new catchphrase, the ‘no-hat rule’ was born.

Though this one doesn’t sound as cool as ‘The New Norm’ (something we were promised and never received) and even though it isn’t as fun as scouring the internet for dog masks, this story about Philly being hellbent on keeping Washington from winning the NFC East at Lincoln Financial Field doesn’t seem to be charging Philly fans up. Instead, the consensus seems to be something far worse. ‘Why fight now? It’s over!’.

On Carson Wentz‘s birthday, the ‘WentzDay’ leading up to the regular-season finale, the Eagles announced that they were activating 21-day practice windows for All-Pro guard Brandon Brooks and rookie linebacker Davion Taylor. In other words, there’s a strong possibility that both might play. Otherwise, there would have been no reason to do so.

21-day practice windows mean that teams are giving themselves three weeks to decide if a player or players are healthy enough to return to the active roster. If they decide that they are, they promote them. If they decide that they aren’t, they return to the team’s injured reserve for the remainder of the season which, in Philly’s case, is one more game, a meaningless game that much of the fan base hopes they lose for fear of jeopardizing their draft position.

Brooks and Taylor’s return would mean that Philly wants to give themselves the best chance to win, but again, what’s the point? Why are they trying so hard to win this game, a game that has no bearing on Philly’s season?

We get it. These guys are competitors, but here’s the thing. By playing spoiler to one rival, Philly aids two others. An Eagles win means the NFC East’s title would be won by the winner of the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants game. Can you imagine what it would mean for Dallas or the G-Men to earn a postseason berth thanks to an Eagles victory in a game that only hurts their draft position by winning?

Again, where was all of this effort when there was something to play for a week ago? Talk about stories that will go on forever. It’s enough to make the head spin, but for all intents and purposes, this appears to be a game that Philly has no intention of waving the white flag in (even though some of you probably wish that they would).