The Eagles are finding out that along with the spoils of reaching the Super Bowl come a super hard schedule.
That’s especially true later in the season when the Eagles have a five-game gauntlet from Nov. 5 through Dec. 10 against teams that were a combined 64-20 last season for a .762 winning percentage.
The games are against Dallas (12-5 in 2022), Kansas City (14-3), Buffalo (13-3), San Francisco (13-4) and Dallas again. That means the Eagles, who set a franchise record with 14 wins in going 14-3, need to take advantage of their early-season schedule.
Even that, though, will be difficult.
The Eagles will open the season at the New England Patriots on Sept. 10. The Eagles should be favored in that game, but the Patriots (8-9) are honoring legendary quarterback Tom Brady, who played 20 seasons for them and won six Super Bowls.
It should be emotional after Brady, who spent his final two seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, winning another Super Bowl, announced his retirement after last season.
The game makes for an interesting backstory since the Eagles beat Brady and the Patriots in Super Bowl LVII in Feb. 2018.
The Eagles will follow that up with their home opener against the Minnesota Vikings, but that will come just four days later, on Thursday, Sept. 14. The Vikings went 13-4 last season and made the playoffs. It’ll be an interesting game for Eagles fans from Delaware since the Vikings have two Salesianum stars and teammates in right tackle Brian O’Neill and linebacker Troy Reeder, who signed with the Vikings last month.
Speaking of Brady, the Eagles will face his last team, the Buccaneers (8-9), after an 11-day break in Week 3, in a Monday night game in Tampa Bay on Sept. 25.
After that, they’re home against Washington on Oct. 1.
The Eagles then have back-to-back road games against the Rams in Los Angeles and the Jets at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.
The Jets, of course, traded for quarterback Aaron Rodgers. That means the Jets should be better than their 7-10 record last season.
Super Bowl rematch set
The long-awaited Super Bowl rematch between the Eagles and Chiefs will take place on Monday night, Nov. 20 in Kansas City. It’ll come at a good time for the Eagles as it’s coming off their bye week. The Monday night game will give them an extra day of rest heading into the most anticipated-game of the season.
The Chiefs beat the Eagles 38-35 in the Super Bowl on Feb. 12 on a field goal with 8 seconds left. One is left to wonder what would’ve happened had the Eagles gotten one last chance at a game-winning touchdown.
We’ll find out.
When do they play the Cowboys, Giants?
The NFC East had three playoff teams last season in the Eagles, Cowboys and Giants.
The Eagles will play all four of those games in the second half of the season, all within a short time frame. They’ll face Dallas in Week 9 at home and Week 14 in Dallas. The second game, on Dec. 10, will be played on Sunday night. The two teams have played at least one prime time game in all but one season since 2007. The only exception came in 2014 when the two teams played a national game on Thanksgiving Day.
As for the Giants (9-7-1), there’s the Christmas Day matchup at Lincoln Financial Field and the regular-season finale on Jan. 6 or 7 at the Meadowlands.
Just how tough is the schedule?
The Eagles have the toughest schedule in the NFL based on opponents’ winning percentages from last season. In all, the Eagles’ foes in 2023 had a winning percentage of .566 in 2022. The next closest was the Dolphins at .554.
The five-game stretch mentioned above has to be the toughest stretch for any team in years.
In other words, the Eagles could be hard-pressed to match their franchise-best record of 14-3 last season, even though the team might actually be better. Jalen Hurts, the MVP runner-up, returns, along with offensive stars A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith and Dallas Goedert.
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On defense, the Eagles have franchise legends Brandon Graham and Fletcher Cox, along with first-round draft pick Jalen Carter, who could end up starting Week 1.
And they’ll be tested right away as 10 of the Eagles’ 17 games are against teams that went to the playoffs last season. That’s tied for the most in the NFL.
Eagles’ 1 p.m. games become rare
Needless to say, many of those games will be in prime time. Teams are allowed a maximum of six prime time games. And the Eagles have five (six if you can’t the Christmas Day game at 4:30 p.m.).
In addition, they have six others scheduled for the late afternoon national game at 4:25 p.m. That includes their NFC Championship game rematch against the 49ers on Dec. 3, and the season opener against the Patriots.
In all, the Eagles have just three games scheduled for 1 p.m. − both meetings against Washington on Oct. 1 at home and Oct. 29 at FedEx Field, and a Dec. 31 game against Arizona. That game will represent the return of head coach Jonathan Gannon, who served as the Eagles’ defensive coordinator the past two seasons.
Eagles 2023 schedule
The Eagles had known their opponents as soon as the 2022 season ended as they’ll play their NFC East foes twice each. They’ll also play a game against each team in the NFC West and AFC East. Because the Eagles finished first in the NFC East last season, they’ll play the other three games against first-place finishers in the two other NFC divisions (Tampa Bay in the NFC South, Minnesota in the NFC North), along with the AFC West (Kansas City).
Sept. 10: at New England, 4:25 p.m., CBS
Sept. 14: vs. Minnesota, 8:15 p.m., Prime Video, (TNF)
Sept. 25: at Tampa Bay, 7:15 p.m., ABC, (MNF)
Oct. 1: vs. Washington, 1 p.m., FOX
Oct. 8: at Los Angeles Rams, 4:05 p.m., FOX
Oct. 15: at New York Jets, 4:25 p.m., FOX
Oct. 22: vs. Miami, 8:20 p.m., NBC (SNF)
Oct. 29: at Washington, 1 p.m., FOX
Nov. 5: vs. Dallas, 4:25 p.m., FOX
Nov. 12: BYE
Nov. 20: at Kansas City, 8:15 p.m. ESPN/ABC (MNF)
Nov. 26: vs. Buffalo, 4:25 p.m., CBS
Dec. 3: vs. San Francisco, 4:25 p.m., FOX
Dec. 10: at Dallas, 8:20 p.m., NBC (SNF)
Dec. 17: at Seattle, 4:25 p.m., FOX
Dec. 25: vs. NY Giants, 4:30 p.m., FOX
Dec. 31: vs. Arizona, 1 p.m., FOX
Jan. 6-7: at NY Giants, TBD, TBD
Preseason slate revealed
The Eagles will play three preseason games. But for the first time in nearly three decades, the Jets won’t be one of the opponents. They are playing the Jets in the regular season, however.
The Eagles’ preseason games are Aug. 11 at Baltimore, then home on Aug. 17 against Cleveland, and home on Aug. 24 against Indianapolis.
Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @Mfranknfl.
