Eagles fans won’t have an excuse to avoid holiday gatherings in 2024

NFL games often provide an excellent excuse to avoid holiday gatherings, as they take place annually on Thanksgiving, and as of more recently, Christmas too.

Don't want to spend Thanksgiving at the in-laws? "Sorry, my favorite football team is playing, I can't make it." Christmas with cousins? Not going to happen if the Eagles are on.

The old 'watching the Eagles' excuse won't fly this year

But, unfortunately for fans in Philadelphia, those excuses aren't going to work this year. The full 2024 NFL schedule was recently released, and the Eagles aren't slated to play on either Thanksgiving or Christmas. This represents a change from last year when the Birds played at home against the New York Giants on Christmas Day.

Meanwhile, Philadelphia's streak of no games on Thanksgiving continues. The Birds haven't played on the annual holiday since 2015 when they were bested 45-14 by the Lions. They also played on Thanksgiving in 2014 and beat the Cowboys 33-10.

Even though the Eagles aren't playing, there will still be football on to at least serve as a distraction. These are the three games that are scheduled for Thanksgiving day:

• Chicago Bears at Detroit Lions

• New York Giants at Dallas Cowboys

• Miami Dolphins at Green Bay Packers

And these are the two games that will take place on Christmas:

• Kansas City Chiefs at Pittsburgh Steelers

• Baltimore Ravens at Houston Texans

Those games, especially the two slated for Christmas Day, could prove to be very intriguing. So again, at least there's something on.

Since their bye comes very early in Week 5, it's probably a good thing that the Eagles don't have any holiday games in 2024. That way they can spending the days relaxing with family and friends, because that back stretch of their schedule is going to be brutal. But for fans in Philly, it might mean that they have to attend those family gatherings this year.