A day after digesting the Eagles 2021 schedule, Ray Didinger gave a very realistic prediction an Eagles team coming off their worse season in eight years:
"I'm going to give them seven wins."
Didinger offered his takeaways from the schedule with Angelo on Thursday morning. He touched on a number of topics listed below but his big takeaway had to do with the Eagles lack of prime time games:
"The one thing that is pretty obvious at a glance is they are no longer considered a marque team around the NFL. The last 20 years, they have always been a major prime time player. They've had four or five games, in many years six games on prime time television because they have been a big attraction or a team that everyone thought was going to be good.
"Philadelphia is hot TV market so all the networks love to put the Eagles in prime time… What that tells you is around the league, expectations for this team are pretty low.
"If you talk to the fan, the man on the street, I think the people here, coming off the draft and knowing they got Devonta Smith, are feeling pretty good about this team."
On Week 1 vs Atlanta:
"I think that's not a bad way to start. The thing that scares me a little bit is their offense. They will be facing a real prolific offense. Matt Ryan can still play and he's got Calvin Ridley, Julio Jones and now Kyle Pitts. They are going to be a tough team… the [Eagles] are going to have to do some repair work on that secondary to get ready for that game because you know the Falcons are coming out of the tunnel throwing the ball."
On start of schedule:
"One of the things I think that works in [the Eagles] favor is the first three weeks against Atlanta San Francisco and Dallas… you are going to be facing three new defensive coordinators in a row… They are probably going to be putting lots of pieces into places."
On remaining schedule:
"While the opponents get easier after you get past Tampa Bay, you have to realize five of the next seven are all on the road. It's a stretch of what you would consider beatable opponents - maybe with the exception of the Chargers - but five of those seven are on the road."
On slight advantages:
"The two games that you would single out as the toughest - which would be Kansas City and Tampa Bay, the two Super Bowl finalist - the Eagles have certain advantages going into those games. First of all, they are both at home which helps. Very often, you have to look at who teams played the week before you and who they are playing the week after you and it actually trends in the Eagles favor in those games."
For the Chiefs, the Eagles are sandwiched in between the Chargers and Bills games. With Tampa Bay, the Eagles play them on Thursday night after coming off a game against the Dolphins.
Related
