How a brutal six-game stretch following the Eagles' bye might decide their fate

On any given Sunday.... You know the rest. There may not be another game that so brilliantly defines parity's meaning as the NFL. One need only examine the Philadelphia Eagles for evidence.

Doug Pederson's coaching tenure, one that brought the City of Brotherly Love its first Vince Lombardi Trophy in his second season at the helm, ended with a 4-11-1 win-loss total three seasons after the Super Bowl run. Enter Nick Sirianni.

Philly's current head coach led 2021's iteration of the Eagles to a postseason berth to end his first year at the helm. Like Doug, Coach Sirianni's team qualified for a Super Bowl appearance during his second season. Unlike Doug, Sirianni's Birds couldn't seal the deal. Last season, we saw the collapse.

Through it all, we saw parity.

The 2024 Eagles season features a tough stretch of games, a handful that could determine the season's outcome.

Coach Pederson and Coach Sirianni's Eagles tenures have brought surprise wins and losses. Some games made us stand up and cheer. Others made us ask why our Birds were struggling with teams that they should have put away easily and others still that were losses that we felt should have been won.

Guess what? That's football. See? On any given Sunday, any team can surprise us by beating another.

In 2024, Philly faces another gauntlet, one that comes with an early bye week and a Week 1 date in Brazil. It's a stretch of games that follow the bye that have caught our attention.

Sitting idle in Week 5 before being asked to host the Cleveland Browns and travel to tackle the rival New York Giants one week later is tough enough, but check out the six games after that.

• at Cincinnati Bengals - Week 8 (Oct 27) - 4:25 pm
• Jacksonville Jaguars - Week 9 (Nov 3rd) -8:20 pm
• at Dallas Cowboys - Week 10 (Nov 10) - 4:25 pm
• Washington Commanders - Week 11 (Nov 14) - 8:15 pm
• at Los Angeles Rams - Week 12 (Nov 24) - 8:20 pm
• at Baltimore Ravens - Week 13 (Dec 1) - 4:25 pm

Ouch... While we'd love to see them do it and wouldn't complain if they did, we seriously doubt the Birds will run this table.

There are so many things that we can touch on here. Following Week 5's bye, Philly must play 13 games in succession There are no 1 pm starts. Three of these games are on primetime TV. Two primetime games (Week 11 and Week 12) are in succession.

That's just half of it.

As mentioned earlier, Philly plays the Browns and Giants in consecutive weeks following the week off. That road date in the Big Apple will be tough and emotional as Saquon Barkley returns to MetLife Stadium to face his former team but look at the following game.

The Birds fly to Ohio to play a team they haven't beaten since Christmas Eve in 2000, the Cincinnati Bengals. That one is being billed as one of the season's top ten games. Philly has lost three of the five head-to-head matchups since then. The other two games have ended in ties.

But, again... It doesn't end there.

The Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 9... A road game versus Dallas in Week 10... Philly hasn't won in Arlington since 2017 by the way. The aforementioned primetime clashes with the always-annoying Commanders and the scrappy L.A. Rams... A road date with one of the AFC's best teams follows that one.

Yep! Philly's mettle will be tested. We're going to have much to discuss.

Last season, we learned of some static between coaches and players. We learned that some guys turned on one another when things didn't go as Philly would have hoped. We learned some were upset by the shine some of their teammates were receiving.

We're going to learn much about Nick Sirianni in year four because we have so many questions that need answers.

Do his players truly respect him? What happens if their is a loss? What does Nick do again?

Yes, every game on the schedule is important, and yes, the NFL is a league of parity, but the tale we one day tell about the 2024-2025 Eagles season may be one that was written largely about this six game stretch. Obviously, we're cheering for them. Let's go take care of business.

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