January 05, 2024
Joe Nicholson/USA TODAY Sports
Lane Johnson and the Eagles' starters don't figure to be scoreboard watching Sunday.
The Eagles, still very much in need of a "get right" game before the playoffs, are expected to pull out all stops against the Giants on Sunday to end the regular season on a high note.
But running simultaneously will be the Dallas-Washington game, the outcome of which will decide who wins the NFC East between the Eagles and Cowboys (provided the Eagles beat New York) and, in turn, get the No. 2 seed in the playoffs.
A lot is at stake. Lane Johnson expects to be playing alongside the rest of the Eagles' starters at 4:25 p.m. on Sunday no matter what, and when it comes to scoreboard watching, the veteran right tackle told the 94 WIP mid-day show on Thursday that he isn't interested.
"I'm playing either way," Johnson said on a call to the station. "It's a game. I feel like one of these games right here is a good test whenever everybody's telling you 'You might wanna rest your starters or you might want to do this and get some relief.' I think it's a good time for us to get our minds right.
"Obviously you want to avoid any injuries that are out there, but at the same time, we want to get our offense and get our whole team going before the playoffs."
It's an awkward spot to be in, for sure. But at the same time, it's a hole the Eagles very much dug themselves after dropping four of their last five games over the past month.
To win the NFC East, all Dallas needs to do is beat Washington, but for the Eagles to pull it off and defend the crown, they'll need a victory over the Giants as well as a Cowboys defeat at the hands of the fourth-place Commanders.
That lends to the idea that if Dallas is leading significantly in its game, then maybe the Eagles should consider making the call to pull their starters in response on the thought of getting them rested up as much as possible, knowing that they'll need to travel and be right back in the week after for the Wild Card round.
Earlier in the week, head coach Nick Sirianni said he and his staff would go over every possible scenario in that regard and that nothing would be out of consideration – at least not as of Monday. However, the Eagles haven't been playing well at all, on either side of the ball, and could really use this last regular season game for a win to, at minimum, boost morale and iron out lingering issues.
When it comes to the offense, which has put up points, but not enough to cover for a struggling defense and not in the clutch scenarios of late when they really needed a touchdown, Johnson told WIP: "We've had our moments where we've had some success, but I feel like we're still waiting and everybody's still waiting to be like 'Woah! They just – they've fully been optimized.' It goes down to each possession. Each possession's precious, you gotta convert on third downs, you have to execute. So we have a ways to go, but hopefully our best football is in front of us."
But...
"The time's now," Johnson continued. "We don't have much time to get it right."
*Check out Johnson's full interview on WIP HERE.
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