Eagles news: Week 12's battle with Bills gets tougher, joint practices
When you play teams is just as important as who you are playing, if not more so. Though we had known who the Philadelphia Eagles would play for months during the 2023-2024 NFL season, the May 11th schedule release was a date we had circled on our calendar for quite some time.
With the knowledge of every game's date, we were then allowed to make flight plans. We could book our hotel reservations, and yes, we could identify the rough stretches of the regular-season. Philly faces a gauntlet in 2023, particularly from Week 9 until Week 15. Don't look now, but that game versus the Buffalo Bills in Week 9 just earned an added boost of energy.
Eagles news: Philadelphia's Week 12 opponent, the Buffalo Bills, add Leonard Floyd to their roster.
The Eagles and Bills have met 14 times in total with eight of those contests going Philly's way. Their last meeting provided a 31-13 Birds win in 2019. This time, the game will be played at Lincoln Financial Field. An Ian Rapoport report tells us Buffalo is bringing Leonard Floyd with them.
Sources: The #Bills are making a late splash in free agency, agreeing to terms with former #Rams standout pass-rusher Leonard Floyd. He gets a 1-year deal after 9 sacks last season. And Buffalo adds another key player on the edge. pic.twitter.com/26il6sleMX
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) June 5, 2023
In addition to being named to the Pro Football Writers of America's All-Rookie Team in 2016, Floyd has appeared in 111 games with 111 starts. That includes seven postseason games. He has 358 tackles, 52.5 sacks, two interceptions, and three forced fumbles on his seven-year resume. Pairing him with Von Miller gives Buffalo's defense another boost.
More Eagles news: The Eagles will host joint practices versus two AFC teams.
Here's something of note. After Zac Jackson of The Athletic reported the Eagles would host the Cleveland Browns for joint practices ahead of their preseason game, we also learned that the Birds would host a joint practice session with the Indianapolis Colts.
That's right! We won't have to wait long to witness Shane Steichen's return. Don't expect to see exciting games after the sessions though.
Philly is 6-1 in the preseason games that they have played versus the teams they have enjoyed joint sessions with (if you're interested in that sort of thing). Last year's blowout loss to the Miami Dolphins provided defeat, but these days, coaches place more value in the work their players get during the joint practice sessions. The games, on the other hand, provide some rather vanilla scripts.