October 27, 2024
Darren Yamashita/Imagn Images
Football fans will be treated to either a Dak Prescott or Brock Purdy loss on Sunday Night Football. You know, barring a tie.
Each week we'll lay out a rooting guide for non-Eagles games on the NFL schedule for those of you on the fence while watching the other action around the league. And yes, first and foremost the Eagles have to take care of their own business.
• Bears at Commanders: The Eagles are a half-game back of the Commanders in the NFC East, so a Commanders loss is more ideal, duh. But also, as we note every week, the Bears will be an ideal first round opponent in the playoffs for any team that wins their division and doesn't earn a bye. This is a sneaky important game in the NFC that could have tie-breaker implications down the road.
• Cowboys at 49ers: Barring a tie, this will either be a Cowboys loss or a Niners loss. Either way, everybody wins. But for the Eagles' purposes the division matters more than anything else, and if the reeling Cowboys fall to 3-4 then the Birds' chances of winning the NFC East rise, obviously.
• Giants at Steelers: John Mara said this week that he does not intend on firing head coach Brian Daboll or general manager Joe Schoen.
John Mara: “We are not making any changes.” During and after the season. He talked about trying to be patient. They’re committed to seeing the process through.
— Jordan Raanan (@JordanRaanan) October 24, 2024
Mara’s comments came after viewing “The Duke: Wellington Mara’s Giant Life” airing on NFLN on Friday.
Lol. Good luck, Giants fans.
That aside, after watching how bad the Giants looked against the Eagles Week 7 without Andrew Thomas, it's OK to root for them to start winning some games so they are once again not in a good position to draft one of the top quarterbacks in the 2025 NFL Draft. And if they beat the Steelers, who cares? That game won't help them with tiebreakers should they make a highly unlikely late-season run.
First, let's look at the NFC seeding if the season ended today (it doesn't).
| Seed | Team | Record | Conf record |
| 1 | Lions | 5-1 | 5-1 |
| 2 | Commanders | 5-2 | 3-1 |
| 3 | Seahawks | 4-3 | 1-3 |
| 4 | Falcons | 4-3 | 4-1 |
| 5 | Vikings | 5-2 | 3-2 |
| 6 | Packers | 5-2 | 2-2 |
| 7 | Bears | 4-2 | 2-0 |
| 8 | Eagles | 4-2 | 3-2 |
| 9 | Buccaneers | 4-3 | 4-1 |
| 10 | Cowboys | 3-3 | 1-2 |
| 11 | Cardinals | 3-4 | 2-3 |
| 12 | Rams | 3-4 | 2-4 |
| 13 | 49ers | 3-4 | 1-3 |
| 14 | Saints | 2-5 | 2-3 |
| 15 | Giants | 2-5 | 1-4 |
| 16 | Panthers ☠️ | 1-6 | 0-4 |
• Vikings at Rams: The Rams already won this game on Thursday night, so there's nothing to root for, but I thought that this outcome was bad for the Eagles. To begin, it's a lot more ideal if the Vikings win the NFC North that if it were to be won by the Packers or Lions. But perhaps more importantly, the Rams are right back in the hunt in the NFC West, and it's hard to imagine they'll be sellers at the trade deadline. The Eagles play the Rams Week 12, and that game would be easier if they would've traded a good player like Cooper Kupp, to name one example.
• Falcons at Buccaneers: Ideal (and realistic) divisional winners:
NFC South: Falcons
NFC North: Vikings or Bears
NFC West: Seahawks
In the case of the NFC South, as you're aware the Bucs have proven that they have Jalen Hurts' number, so it's better if the Falcons win that division.
• Titans at Lions: Have the Lions replaced the Niners are the "Big Bad" in the NFC? They feel like the clear favorites to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl at the moment.
• Packers at Jaguars: The Packers are pretty good, too! A loss to the Jags would be ideal. Nobody wants to play in Lambeau in January. (Selfishly, I sure as hell don't want to go there, either.)
• Bills at Seahawks: The Seahawks currently lead the NFC West despite having a 1-3 conference record. It's better if they win the NFC West than if it were to be won by the Niners or even the Rams.
• Cardinals at Dolphins: The Cardinals aren't much of a threat to win the NFC West, but crazier things have happened. Again, better them than the Niners or Rams.
As noted above, it's ideal if the Giants miss out once again on the top quarterback prospects. As such, it's also ideal if bad teams in need of quarterbacks like the Saints, Panthers, and Raiders lose as many games as possible, thus picking before the Giants in the 2025 draft.
The following bolded teams play the Eagles this season, so they're just worth keeping an eye on, but it doesn't really matter who wins these games.
MORE: Five things to watch in Eagles-Bengals
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