With Philadelphia Eagles On Bye, Who Should Eagles Fans Root For Around The NFC?
By Kevin McGuire
The Philadelphia Eagles may be off this week, but that does not mean the NFL stops where it is. There will still be plenty of NFL action going on this weekend, and with the Eagles continuing to dig holes for themselves it is beginning to be more likely they will need some help just to get into the postseason fun at the end of the year. With that in mind, you may be wondering just who you should be rooting for this weekend to give the Eagles a better playoff outlook as the second half of the season plays out. Never fear, for your rooting interests for this weekend are detailed below.
NFC East
Let's get the easy part out of the way real quickly. When it comes to NFC East opponents, always root for their opponents unless special circumstances arise. This week the New York Giants visit the New Orleans Saints, the Dallas Cowboys host the Seattle Seahawks and Washington is on a bye. This is as straight-forward as possible then. Clearly, you root for the Saints at home against the first-place Giants and the Seahawks on the road against the Cowboys. Any chance the Eagles can gain ground on either team while not playing a down is important, even if it means the Cowboys will be looking to snap a losing streak the following week when the Eagles return to action for a Sunday night game.
The Saints winning would bump them to 4-4, but they still have four games to make up on the first-place Carolina Panthers and three against the Atlanta Falcons. Because of that, it is probably not likely the Saints will come back to interfere with any potential postseason scenarios for the Eagles, although the Eagles have a head-to-head tiebreaker anyway. The same holds true for the Seahawks. Seattle is in a better spot than the Saints in their respective divisions, but the Eagles will get a crack at Seattle later anyway. For now, hope the Cowboys get buried because the best path to the playoffs for the Eagles will be through the NFC East.
Around the NFC
The Atlanta Falcons (6-1) are hosting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday afternoon. The Falcons already won a head-to-head matchup with the Eagles, so anything that can help make up ground on Atlanta is helpful. Can Jameis Winston get the job done in the Dome?
The NFC West-leading Arizona Cardinals head to Cleveland to take on a struggling Browns team. It is always recommended to root for the AFC in any AFC vs. NFC matchup, and that continues to be the logic here until other scenarios start to pop up later in the season. Elsewhere in that same division, San Francisco visits St. Louis and former Eagles quarterback Nick Foles. Pull for the 49ers here, unless you root for anything that makes Chip Kelly's GM decisions look bad. Regardless of the outcome, neither team will likely fit into the playoff picture down the line.
The Minnesota Vikings could be interesting to watch. At 4-2, the Vikings head to Chicago. The Bears have really struggled and may not pan out to much of a threat later in the year. This makes it safe to root for the Bears against the Vikings, in hopes of dropping Minnesota down a peg, just in case.
On Sunday night the undefeated Green Bay Packers visit the undefeated Denver Broncos. Again, it is always recommended to root for the AFC in these situations, but it may not ultimately matter as the Eagles have too much ground to make up on the Packers in any playoff scenario you can imagine. Flip a coin if you wish, because the Packers are going to finish ahead of the Eagles no matter what.
The same may hold true for Carolina, who just beat the Eagles. Carolina hosts Indianapolis on Monday night. Root for the Colts because there is still a chance the Panthers will fall off a bit as the season plays out. Having lost the head-to-head tiebreaker, the Eagles will need all the help they can get to get ahead of the Panthers later on. So go Colts.
Kevin McGuire is a Philadelphia area sports writer covering the Philadelphia Eagles and college football. McGuire is a member of the FWAA and National Football Foundation. Follow McGuire on Twitter @KevinOnCFB. His work can be found on Examiner.com.