Ray Didinger is a Hall Of Fame analyst. He's not a hot take kind of guy.
But this week on 94WIP, Didinger brought the heat when talking about the Eagles' Week 2 matchup against the Rams on Sunday at the Linc.
"This seems nutty to say in Week 2, but this a must win game," Didinger told Joe DeCamara and Jon Ritchie on Wednesday. "If they don't win this game Sunday, they're looking at 1-5. And you're dead, your season is over."
Didinger's point is predominantly based on Philly's difficult schedule early on. After the Rams in Week 2 and a winnable game at home against the Bengals in Week 3, the Eagles play at the 49ers in Week 4, at the Steelers 5, and vs. the Ravens in Week 6.
Didinger did indeed pick the Eagles to win the game during his Thursday morning segment with Angelo Cataldi, but he didn't back off of how important he thinks it is.
"I'm taking the Eagles," Didinger said on Thursday.
But why?
"I don't know," he said when asked, laughing.
"I couldn't help it, I'm sorry," Didinger continued. "I hate to say this because it sounds stupid. If I look it at on paper and look at it on tape, there really is no good real justification for picking the Eagles to win this game. All of the tangible signs, all of the real evidence, sort of points towards the Rams. Because right now, the Rams are a better team, right now. But I just have a feeling the Eagles are going to bounce back in a big way from this game. That was just so embarrassing, what happened on Sunday, and I don't think the Eagles are that bad. They're beat up and right now they're not playing in sync at all, but they're not a bad team. They haven't become a bad team overnight and I think they understand the enormity of the situation they're facing right now. I don't want to be Mr. desperate here, I don't want to be Mr. alarmist here, but if you look at their immediate schedule, if they lose the Rams -- I said this with Joe and Jon yesterday. If they lose the Rams, they're looking at 1-5.
"You can be out of this race and talking about the draft before Halloween. I just don't see them getting there. I think that getting (Miles) Sanders back will help enormously."
