Upon viewing the Eagles 2020 schedule, it’s hard to miss the duo of brutal three-game stretches, one coming in the first half of the season with the other in the latter half.
The first stretch comes in weeks 4-6. The Eagles will have to travel to the west coast for a Sunday night battle with the San Francisco 49ers in week 4, then fly back to Pennsylvania to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers at Heinz Field the following week. They’ll finish off the stretch with a home game against 2019’s MVP Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens.
These three teams finished with a combined regular season record of 35-13 last season, and two of them (San Fran and Baltimore) were the No. 1 seeds in their respective conferences. And while Pittsburgh finished last season at 8-8, they figure to be an improved team in 2020 with Ben Roethlisberger back under center.
Most fans have the week 4 contest against the Niners written off as a loss already, and it’s not hard to see why. If the Eagles drop that game, the next two games against Pittsburgh and Baltimore will be imperative, mostly because the following two games after those two are against divisional opponents.
After the week 9 bye week, the Eagles will have a warm up game against Cleveland before entering their second pivotal three game stretch. From week 13-15, the Birds will face Russel Wilson and the Seahawks on Monday night at the Linc. The following week, they’ll travel to Lambeau Field to face off against the Green Bay Packers, and then they’ll finish it off at home against the New Orleans Saints.
During the Doug Pederson/Carson Wentz era, the Eagles have a combined record of 1-7 against these three teams, with the only win coming this past season against the Packers.
Not only will this stretch of games be a defining moment for the 2020 Eagles, it’ll be a defining moment for both Pederson’s and Wentz’s careers. It has the makings to be one of those ‘get the monkey off my back’ moments for the head coach and quarterback.
The playoff implications will be there as well, as all three teams made the NFC playoffs last season and figure to be back in the mix this season.
The cards are clearly stacked against the Eagles with these two three game gauntlets. It’s games like these that championship teams get up for. They’ll all be statement games, and it would obviously be amazing to see the Birds step up to the task.