The Philadelphia Eagles are nearly halfway to one of the most impressive feats in football: a perfect season. The Birds are 7-0 with a very favorable schedule in the coming weeks.
Only four teams in NFL history have ever gone undefeated in the regular season, most recently with the 2007 Patriots losing in the Super Bowl to the New York Giants. Only one of those teams, the 1972 Miami Dolphins, completed the entire regular season and postseason without a loss.
The Eagles have been the lone undefeated team remaining for a few weeks now and it doesn’t look like they should lose any time soon. People are starting to wonder when – or if – they’ll lose a game this season.
NFL Insider Brian Baldinger of the Audacy Original Podcast “In The Huddle” talked about the Eagles’ impressive season and said that the Birds have what it takes to run the table this year.
“They can run the table,” Baldinger said (1:35 in player above). “I don’t think that’s a mindset. It’s almost better if you just take the pressure off, refocus after a loss. I don’t know where it might come from. Dallas around the holiday season maybe. The Giants if they’re resting players at the end of the season. All that kind of stuff.”
The most important thing for the Eagles isn’t a perfect regular season, but rather getting the top seed in the NFC and ultimately another Super Bowl championship. Home-field advantage in the playoffs can go a long way toward that.
“They want to be the number one seed,” Baldinger continued. “There’s no question about it. Howie Roseman five years ago said that was the key to their Super Bowl run was getting those two playoff games at home, Atlanta and Minnesota, before they went to the Super Bowl.”
The Eagles beat the Falcons 15-10 in the Divisional Round and turned the NFC Championship Game into a laugher with a 38-7 win over the Vikings. They’re hoping to do the same thing in these playoffs and they have one of the most important statistics on their side.
“If you look at the most important statistic in wins and losses, the turnover ratio, nobody’s close to the Eagles. After eight weeks they’re eight better than the next closest team. They’ve turned the ball over two times with no fumbles in the first seven weeks. They’ve taken it away 16 times. They lead the league in takeaways, they’ve given it up the fewest amount of times. They’re +14 right now. That’s part of it.”
Not only do the Eagles take care of the ball, but they also have skill players in every aspect of the game. They haven’t shown many holes through seven weeks.
“In a league where there are very few complete teams as we hit the midpoint here, they’re the most complete team,” Baldinger said. “Whatever you want them to do. You want them to defend the deep ball? Nobody’s better – maybe Buffalo’s in there. If you want to get after the quarterback, they’re really good. If you want to run the ball, they can do it. If you want a quarterback that doesn’t turn the ball over but yet is aggressive with the ball as we saw last week against Pittsburgh, three touchdown passes to A.J. Brown in the first 24 minutes of the game.
“Nobody really can challenge them as the most complete team. There are other teams … that can do that if they were matched up with them, but right now they’re just really well put together and they’re really well-coached. They just don’t beat themselves,” Baldinger continued. “When you don’t beat yourself but yet you’re a very complete team, that’s what it takes to run the table.”
The Eagles will look to keep their undefeated record intact on Thursday night in Houston against the Texans. They have the Commanders, Colts, and Packers on the docket for the rest of November.
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