November 04, 2018

Week 9 non-Eagles Sunday rooting guide

By Jimmy Kempski
PhillyVoice Staff

In past seasons, Philadelphia Eagles fans generally rooted for their own team, and kept an eye on the rest of the NFC East. In 2018, with the Birds initially being among the favorites to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl, it was perhaps worth keeping tabs on the conference, as opposed to just the division.

And so, each week we laid out a rooting guide for non-Eagles games on the NFL schedule. However, sitting at 4-4 and looking up at the 5-2 Washington Redskins, Eagles fans' outside rooting interests should be shifted from earning a first round bye, to just having a seat at the table, at all, in the playoffs, whether that be by winning the NFC East or a wildcard.

Ideal winner in bold:

• Falcons at Redskins: Obviously, all Eagles fans should be huge Falcons fans this weekend, as the Eagles sit a game and a half behind Washington. So, you know, "Goooooo Biiiiiiirds!"

• Bears at Bills: The Bears are wildcard contenders, so any loss to an AFC team is ideal, though the Bills may be the worst team in the NFL.

• Lions at Vikings: Vikings losses are better than Lions losses. On a side note, despite a head-to-head loss, the Eagles don't have to worry about any tie-breaker scenarios with the Vikings because Minny has a tie this year.

• Buccaneers at Panthers: The Eagles lost to both of these teams, but the Bucs are clearly the preferable winner here.

• Steelers at Ravens: The Eagles own the Ravens' second-round pick, so a Steelers win is ideal. To note, if the season ended Sunday morning, the Eagles and Ravens would both miss the playoffs, and the Eagles would have back-to-back picks in the second round.

• Texans at Broncos: It's looking like the AFC South is going to be so bad that the Texans can run away with that division while also being nowhere close to other division winners like the Pats or Chiefs. So maybe the Texans won't have much to play for Week 16 against the Eagles if they gain a sizable enough lead over the Jags, Colts, and Titans?

• Chargers at Seahawks: The Chargers are obviously the preferable team to win here, but a side thing to root for in this game is for Caleb Sturgis to make his kicks. If the Chargers cut Sturgis prior to Week 10, the Eagles would lose out on a compensatory pick for him in the 2019 NFL Draft. To note, the Chargers would not gain a comp pick of their own if they did, so their only incentive to cut Power Sturge would legitimately be if they thought another kicker could do a better job.

• Rams at Saints: I don't think you root for either team here. You just see what happens, and recalculate the outlook of the NFC from there. But obviously, this is a huge game, and the Eagles are going to have to go through one (or both) of these teams if they make the playoffs and are going to make it back to the Super Bowl.

• Packers at Patriots: Yeah, it sucks to have to root for cheaters, but that's where we are here.

• Titans at Cowboys: The shots of Jerry Jones in the box in a prime-time home game after foolishly trading a 1 for Amari Cooper would be fun, if the crappy Titans can find a way to win.

Irrelevant to the Eagles: