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Oct 26, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert (88) celebrates with quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) after scoring a touchdown against the New York Giants in the fourth quarter at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

Eagles Climb To Top Of NFC Ladder Without Playing A Game

Originally posted on Philadelphia Eagles on SI
By Ed Kracz | Last updated Nov 2, 2025 6:37 PM ET

The Eagles didn’t have to play a game on Sunday, and they still climbed the ladder in the NFC. If the season ended today, they would be the top seed in the NFC playoffs. Of course, the season doesn’t end today.

It has, however, reached the halfway point. They will enter Week 9 leading the pack at 6-2. It is the fourth straight season the Eagles started 6-2 or better, and if they go on to earn the No. 1 seed, it would be their third in four years.

The Bucs are also 6-2, but the Eagles beat them, so they own the tiebreaker. The Seahawks can make it to 6-2 by beating the Commanders in Washington on Sunday Night Football, but the Eagles have a better conference record than Seattle.

If the Eagles want to send a couple of thank you’s after getting help in their ascension to the top rung, they can start with the Panthers and Rico Dowdle and Ryan Fitzgerald.

It was Fitzgerald who kicked a 49-yard field goal as time expired for a 16-13 win over the Packers at Lambeau Field. Dowdle ran for a 130 yards against the Packers’ third-ranked run defense.

Eagles After Their Bye

So, the Packers are now 5-2-1 with the Eagles scheduled to visit Lambeau next Monday night, and presumably an angry group, losing despite being favored by 13.5 points.

As for the Eagles, it will have been 16 days since they last played a game, but they are 4-0 under head coach Nick Sirianni exiting a bye.

“The bye week process, we just continue to evolve it,” said Sirianni last week. “But I think that to say, ‘Hey, here's what I've learned in my past four years here,’ it really goes back, ‘What have I learned in my time in the NFL in these bye weeks?’

“That's why you're just constantly in this growth mindset of how you can get better at your process. I think that's been an evolving thing. Obviously these last four, five years, I've been the head coach, so obviously there's more to it than when I was just the offensive coordinator. But I think that the process of our bye week has evolved throughout the years from the past 10 years of my coaching career.

“I think human nature could be, ‘Hey, we don't have a game this week,’ and have a tendency to relax. That's just not the way we think and that's just not the way we're about to go about our business. This week will be about finding ways to get better, identifying issues that we know we have, identifying strengths that we know we have, and tendencies, and looking for ways to improve on those things.”

After sending a thank you to Carolina, fire one out to Minnesota for the Vikings upsetting the Lions at Ford Field, 27-24. That loss left Detroit at 5-3. The Vikings appeared to be in shambles, but their defense showed up, sacking Jared Goff five times and punishing the Lions on the ground with 142 yards rushing as a team.

The Eagles will play the Lions on Sunday Night Football on Nov. 16, six days after going to Green Bay.

This article first appeared on Philadelphia Eagles on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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