Predicting outcomes for the Philadelphia Eagles final four games

The Philadelphia Eagles benefit by facing a Cowboys team that won’t have much to play for.

Don’t look now folks, but it looks like the once-mighty Arizona Cardinals are beginning to show some chinks in the armor. They’ve now lost two straight and, as fate would have it, face the Cowboys in Week 17. That one will be of huge significance. The game’s winner will, more than likely, be rewarded with a higher playoff seed.

The other division leaders, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (10-4) and the Green Bay Packers (11-3) are both in prime positions to secure home-field advantage throughout the NFC Playoffs. Here’s why that’s important.

Arizona’s other two remaining games to close the season are against the Indianapolis Colts and the Seattle Seahawks. Tampa closes with two games versus the Carolina Panthers and a road date versus the New York Jets. Green Bay’s final three games, in order, are against the Cleveland Browns, Minnesota Vikings, and Detroit Lions.

That’s a long-winded way of saying this. If the Bucs and Pack win out and if the Cardinals beat Dallas in Week 17, the Cowboys’ final game versus the Philadelphia Eagles may not mean much. There are reasons to believe that it won’t.

That means the Birds, with everything on the line, get a crack at Dallas’ backups, and a win would place them in the postseason.

Unfortunately, they won’t be able to brag about it. Sure, any win over the Cowboys is satisfying, but as was the case at the end of the 2016-2017 NFL season, a win versus a Cowboys team that didn’t give their best effort would have to be put into perspective.