The next time the Eagles play away from Philadelphia this season will be if they make it all the way to the Super Bowl. After their ugly 19-10 win over the Oakland Raiders on Christmas night, the Birds clinched home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
It is the third consecutive week that the Eagles have clinched one of their season goals:
- Beat the Los Angeles Rams, clinch the NFC East: Check.
- Beat the New York Giants, clinch a first-round bye: Check.
- Beat the Oakland Raiders, clinch home-field advantage: Check.
Still, Doug Pederson and the Eagles' staff will now have to decide whether or not to rest their starters in a meaningless Week 17 against the Dallas Cowboys. A week ago, Pederson hinted that he was indeed leaning toward getting some of his keys guys some rest.
"You just make the best decisions for your football team and if that means resting a guy, you rest a guy, or two or three," he said. "But you also have to maintain the edge with these players, and you've got to maintain that confidence and that dominating swagger and you've got to keep that alive.
"It's not a preseason game, you know what I'm saying, where you can rest in week four and rest all your guys. You can't do that because you're still limited to the roster limits on game day. Guys are still going to have to play, but at the same time, I'm going to be smart about the decisions we make moving forward and getting guys who need the rest, if possible."
This is the first time the Eagles will be the No. 1 seed in the NFC since the 2004 season, which ended with a Super Bowl appearance.
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