Iggles Blitz

by Tommy Lawlor

2025 Schedule

Posted May 14th, 2025 | 3 Comments »

The full NFL schedule has now been released. The Eagles are going to have a challenging regular season, based on what we know now.

Week 1: Thursday, September 4: Home vs. Dallas Cowboys at 8:20 PM (NBC^)
Week 2: Sunday, September 14: Away at Kansas City Chiefs at 4:25 PM (FOX)
Week 3: Sunday, September 21: Home vs. Los Angeles Rams at 1 PM (FOX)
Week 4: Sunday, September 28: Away at Tampa Bay Buccaneers at 1 PM (FOX)
Week 5: Sunday, October 5: Home vs. Denver Broncos at 1 PM+ (CBS)
Week 6: Thursday, October 9: Away at New York Giants at 8:15 PM (Prime Video^)
Week 7: Sunday, October 19: Away at Minnesota Vikings at 1 PM+ (FOX)
Week 8: Sunday, October 26: Home vs. New York Giants at 1 PM+ (FOX)
Week 9: BYE
Week 10: Monday, November 10: Away at Green Bay Packers at 8:15 PM (ESPN/ABC^)
Week 11: Sunday, November 16: Home vs. Detroit Lions at 8:20 PM+ (NBC^)
Week 12: Sunday, November 23: Away at Dallas Cowboys at 4:25 PM+ (FOX)
Week 13: Friday, November 28: Home vs. Chicago Bears at 3 PM (Prime Video)
Week 14: Monday, December 8: Away at Los Angeles Chargers at 8:15 PM+ (ESPN/ABC^)
Week 15: Sunday, December 14: Home vs. Las Vegas Raiders at 1 PM+ (FOX)
Week 16: Saturday, December 20: Away at Washington at either 4:30 PM or 8 PM+ (FOX)
Week 17: Sunday, December 28: Away at Buffalo Bills at 4:25 PM+ (FOX)
Week 18: Date TBD: Home vs. Washington Commanders (Time and Network TBD)

The Eagles just won the Super Bowl. The NFL can’t reward them with a game against Northwestern or Rutgers? The Eagles are going to have their hands full, especially the beginning of the season. Chiefs, Rams, Bucs and Broncos is one heck of a gauntlet early on. The Eagles better not start slow like they did last year.

Going 14-3 against this schedule will be tough to do. The Eagles have arguably the best roster in the league so they’ll still win their share of games. The season should have them battle-tested for the playoffs. Having a great regular season is a good thing, but winning in January is more important.

The bye week appears to come at a good time. The Eagles will need rest at that point.

Per Jack Andrade of the NFL Network “The Eagles will be the first reigning Super Bowl champions to play consecutive games (Weeks 2-4) against each of the 3 teams to most-recently win the Super Bowl before them (Chiefs in 2022/23 seasons, Rams in 2021 season & Buccaneers in 2020 season)”. That’s an interesting nugget.

Go read Jimmy Bama’s breakdown of the schedule. He’s got some good info and analysis.

The biggest thing we always have to remember is that the schedule really breaks down three ways.

  • Who you play
  • When you play them
  • Where you play them

The Eagles lost a couple of games last year partly due to injuries. They had some wins that were easier than expected due to opponents injuries. Games that look tough now might not turn out that way. I’d say the opposite could be true, but most of the games look tough.

This feels like a 12-5 season. That could be good enough to win the division. Washington has a challenging schedule of their own. I don’t see Dallas winning the division. The Giants have a brutal schedule and aren’t likely to do much this season.

If there is a theme for the season it feels like it would be revenge. As in a lot of Eagles opponents will be looking for revenge.

  • Dallas got blown out twice last year.
  • The Giants are still dealing with the Saquon debacle
  • Detroit will be fired up to see how they measure up with the champs
  • Buffalo will want revenge for a frustrating 2023 loss
  • All four teams the Eagles beat in the postseason are on the schedule

You know the Chiefs will be especially fired up. Losing the Super Bowl was bad. Getting dominated was humiliating, and that’s something they’re not used to.

If you want compelling games, this is the season for you. Or maybe I’m being too harsh.

You have to love the optimism.

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Messaging Matters

Posted May 13th, 2025 | 2 Comments »

Football is a game. Professional football is a business. Sometimes those of us on the outside forget about this. Teams have budget constraints. They can’t sign everyone. Players have short careers so they have to maximize their earnings. They can’t be loyal to a team the way fans can. Players have to make money a key consideration in all decisions.

Things don’t always go well when players and teams are negotiating. Their interests don’t align and that can create really complicated situations. We’re seeing some teams struggle with those right now.

The Bengals are hardly alone. Dallas has had contentious negotiations with multiple stars. Next up is Micah Parsons. It will be interesting to see how that goes. Here is a painful story. When does 2 snaps equal 2 million dollars?

Yikes. A lot of times teams will either pay the extra money anyway or will at least give the player something as a way to build up goodwill with the guys in the locker room. Players pay attention to things like this. The Packers said they aren’t doing anything. Rhyan was suspended in the past so coming up short is his own fault. Still, that is so close you would think they would want to work something out. Nope.

The Eagles just went through a tough situation with Dallas Goedert. They needed him to take a pay cut. The Eagles wanted DG to stay. He wanted to stay. The only question was money. The Eagles said all the right things publicly. They must have also said the right things privately. The two sides came to an agreement.

The Eagles did the same thing with Josh Sweat last year. They worked out well for everyone involved. The Eagles won the Super Bowl. Sweat starred in the big game and earned a big contract. We’ll see how this season goes for DG and the team.

If you go back a year, the Eagles had to deal with Haason Reddick and his situation. Reddick wanted a raise. The Eagles weren’t going to give him one. They traded him to the Jets, where Reddick expected to get a new deal. The Eagles did what he wanted. Reddick and the Jets weren’t on the same page and that turned into a debacle that lasted for months. I am going to miss Jimmy Bama giving us regular updates on Reddick’s playing time to boost the value of the pick.

Some of Mr Bama’s finest writing.

The Eagles certainly aren’t perfect. They have pissed off their share of players over the years. But they generally do a good job of separating business and personal. The Eagles generally pay well so players know this isn’t penny-pinching for the sake of it. This is just business. Give Jeffrey Lurie, Howie Roseman and Nick Sirianni credit for having strong relations with the players so they can work through issues when they arise.

*****

One more schedule nugget.

There was speculation that the Eagles could play the Packers on Christmas. Instead it will just be a Monday night in early November. The last time the Eagles were in GB was the final start for Carson Wentz as an Eagle. I tend to think Jalen Hurts will keep his job.

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