Eagles must navigate schedule gauntlet if they want to repeat as Super Bowl champs

The Eagles are playing the NFC North and the AFC West this season. Each of those divisions produced three playoff teams a year ago. In all, the Eagles will face 11 playoff teams from a season ago.

It begs the question: Where’s the layup for them this season?

NFL Media ranked the Eagles’ schedule as the fourth toughest among the 32 teams. There are five primetime games, and possibly as many as seven with flex games. However, schedules are always subject to the ebbs and flows of the season as well as injuries that can damage a team that, in May, looked strong.

Take last year, for example. Discounting the New York Giants, because division games are never as easy as they may look ahead of time, the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 9 and Carolina Panthers in Week 14 looked like layup wins when the schedule came out.

They weren't, even though both were played at Lincoln Financial Field. The Eagles needed a game-sealing, end zone interception from Nakobe Dean to secure a 28-23 win over the 2-6 Jags.

Five weeks later, the Eagles were cresting at 10-2, the Panthers came in 3-9 but had played well over their previous handful of games. Sure enough, they nearly sprung an upset.

The Panthers had two chances in the final quarter of a game they trailed 22-16, but Xavier Legette dropped a pass around the Eagles’ 5-yard line midway through the final quarter. After its defense held Philly and forced a punt, the Panthers’ final possession reached the Eagles 32, but a penalty put them in a fourth-and-nine situation. A Bryce Young pass to Adam Thielen fell incomplete, allowing the home team to survive, 22-16.

So, you may think that maybe the Chicago Bears on Black Friday or Las Vegas Raiders in Week 15 look like this year’s layups, but those teams are expected to be better with the Bears hiring offensive-minded head coach Ben Johnson and the Raiders also possessing a new head coach, in veteran Pete Carroll, one of the game’s top tight ends in Brock Bowers, a rookie-of-the-year candidate in running back Ashton Jeanty, and a receiver in Jack Bech who could be the No. 1 threat by the time LV arrives in town.

There seems to be some who think the Minnesota Vikings take a step back as J.J. McCarthy learns how to be an NFL quarterback, but the game is in Minneapolis in Week 6 and that is not an easy place to play. Again, the Giants do not count.

Maybe some unforeseen circumstances will produce a layup as the season unfolds, but as it stands right now, the Eagles will have to navigate a minefield of a schedule if they want a chance to get back to the playoffs and make a run at defending their Super Bowl championship.