Which 2015 matchup has you ?! pic.twitter.com/9ArfJsx8cA
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) April 22, 2015
In what has becoming a trend (disturbing or otherwise) seemingly since the T.O. summer of 2005, your Philadelphia Eagles were yet again the story of the offseason. A spring of purging the very core of the team and importing the likes of DeMarco Murray, Sam Bradford, Byron Maxwell and Kiko Alonso in a complete remake of the team. The 2015 season will be nothing short of exciting, and with the release of the schedule Tuesday night, we can finally began planning!
With a mix of apprehension and anticipation that hasn’t been seen with this kind of candor in quite a while, welcome back to my second annual inappropriately early analysis of the Eagles schedule!
(A quick note: starting last year, Flex Scheduling to Sunday Nights can begin starting after Week 5, but there are stipulations. Needless to say it is confusing, so I'll just let the league explain it for you here).
Week 1: 9/14 @ Atlanta Falcons, 7:10pm, ESPN
-For the second time in three years as a head coach, Chip Kelly begins his season on the road in a primetime Monday Night Football game. We all remember his debut against the Redskins two years ago when his famous spread offense finally made its debut on national television. This year, he and the Eagles travel south to face a quickly rebuilding Falcons team featuring the former Seahawks defensive coordinator Dan Quinn as head coach. The plan in Atlanta is to turn round their rancid defense to pair with a ready-to-roll offense. This kind of formula doesn’t typically take hold until midway through a season, however. For our purposes, this will be our first chance to see the remade Eagles with Bradford (if he can make it through training camp) under center, DeMarco Murray in the backfield and a completely remade secondary. While impossible to project, the Eagles should win this one in front of a national audience.
Week 2: 9/20 Dallas Cowboys, 4:25pm, FOX
-The defending NFC East Champions (gross) come to Philadelphia early this season after not playing each until Thanksgiving last year. The Cowboys are obviously without their stud running back as he saw the light and flew north. What remains, however, is a team flying high behind the best offensive line in the NFL, an emerging stud in Dez Bryant, a surprisingly decent defense and Tony Romo, a quarterback Philadelphians must admit isn’t terrible at this whole quarterback thing, especially after shaking off his December issues last year. Face it, the Cowboys will be good again next year and with an Eagles team likely still trying to gel, Dallas will be favored to win this one.
Week 3: 9/27 @ New York Jets, 1:00pm, FOX
-The Eagles begin their AFC matchups against a team they have never lost to in their history. With a 0-9 all-time record against the Birds, New York’s B team will be led this year by one time Eagles DC Todd Bowles. A team with even less of a clue what they’re doing at Quarterback than the Eagles, the Jets will attempt to get back to what made them competitive in Rex Ryan’s first few years – defense. They’ve re-formed their deadly corner combo of Darrelle Revis and Antonio Cromartie, who will shut down whoever the Eagles have starting at receiver. If the Eagles want to control this game, it will be on DeMarco Murray and possibly Darren Sproles in the flat to attack their less-formidable front seven.
Week 4: 10/4 @ Washington Redskins, 1:00pm, FOX
-The semi-rebuilding Eagles will visit their perpetually rebuilding rivals to the south as the schedule opens into October. The last time they met, Washington put a dagger into the already fleeting playoff hopes of the birds. However, not all was bad – Zach Ertz finally had his breakout game in DC when he caught 15 passes for 115 yards. However, the only thing most fans will remember is the implosion of Bradley Fletcher and an Eagles Defense-induced one-day-only revival of RG3. The Redskins’ roster is largely the same as last year, so it would be a national surprise to see vastly different results.
Week 5: 10/11 New Orleans Saints, 1pm, FOX
-This could be the first flexed game of the year if both of these offenses get off to a quick start. However, with the trade of Jimmy Graham and Kenny Stills, along with the most obvious rebuild in the league, this looks like a very winnable game for the Birds. The Saints went for broke last year and ended up penniless when everything fell apart on them. They still have Sean Payton and Drew Brees at the helm, and with the return of Brandin Cooks from injured reserve the offense should still be potent. However, it will be a disappointment if the Eagles drop this one at home.
Week 6: 10/19 New York Giants, 830pm, ESPN
-The streak of Giants/Eagles primetime games continues as the Giants visit the Eagles in Week 6 for the second straight year, only this time on Monday Night. The Eagles swept the G-Men in 2014, including a home shutout on Sunday Night last year. New York Team A hasn’t had back to back losing seasons in the Eli era losing 7 in a row at one point and losing Victor Cruz for the year in the aforementioned shutout. However, no discussion of the Giants would be complete without mentioning Odell Beckham Jr. This may be the beginning of a long rivalry between ODB and Byron Maxwell.
Week 7: 10/25 @ Panthers, 8:30pm, NBC
-For the third time in four years, the Eagles and Panthers will face each other in primetime. Carolina, a year after surprising everybody and finding a way to win not only their division but a playoff game despite finishing the season below .500 and having a dreadful offseason, look to be on the up and up as Cam Newton continues to progress into the upper echelon of quarterbacks in the NFL. Last year, of course, this was Mark Sanchez’s coming out party in his first start in midnight green while the defense sacked Newton nine times in a complete shellacking under the lights. Interestingly, a win here would help Chip Kelly continue the anti-Andy Reid streak of wins before the bye week.
Week 8: BYE
Week 9: 11/8 @ Dallas Cowboys, 8:30pm, NBC
-The Birds bye week will be sandwiched between two Sunday Night primetime games. The Eagles will travel to Dallas on two weeks’ rest to play the Cowboys for the 4th time in less than a calendar year. Revenge will be on the mind for one of these two teams. Obviously, the storyline that Al Michaels and Chris Collinsworth will be trumpeting prior to this game is the return of DeMarco Murray (and Miles Austin, for what it’s worth) to Dallas in an Eagles uniform. The last two times the Eagles visited the Cowboys, they’ve clinched the NFC East and won on Thanksgiving. While the stakes are unlikely to be quite as high in Week 9, getting a win in Dallas is always a highlight.
Week 10: 11/15 Miami Dolphins, 1pm, CBS
-The Eagles will play their first non-primetime game in over a month when Miami comes to town. The Fins made news this offseason by signing Ndamukong Suh to anchor their defensive line and fortify their once formidable run defense. Jason Kelce will have his hands full. Also not to be overlooked, new tight end Jordan Cameron will be instrumental in helping QB Ryan Tannehill take the next step, if only he can stay on the field long enough to be his security blanket. By this point, we should know what the Eagles are. The Dolphins are a hard team to get excited for as an away team, but if they surprise like some are expecting, this could be a really great game.
Week 11: 11/22 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 1pm, FOX
-Assuming they use the first overall pick on Jameis Winston, Eagles fans will get a shot to boo the rookie right as the temperature begins to drop. Make no mistake about it, the Bucs are going to be a much improved team next year with a roster that is much better than their 2-14 record indicated last year. Without a competent Quarterback, they still managed to get both of their starting receivers, Vincent Jackson and rookie Mike Evans over the century mark. Running back is an issue for Tampa Bay as Doug Martin has taken a hard right turn into the bust category. With another Thanksgiving Day game on the horizon, the Eagles will want to put this one away early. This game becomes much more interesting if the Bucs decide to pass on Winston and take another Heisman-winning quarterback instead…
Week 12: 11/26 @ Detroit Lions, 12:30pm, FOX
-After going 25 years without a Thanksgiving Day game, they get to do it two years in a row. The Eagles were such a hit last year, the NFL must have thought it was a good idea to schedule them again. Make no mistake about it, this Lions offense is good, boasting a QB-WR combo that few teams can match. However, they will have to make up for the losses of Ndamukong Suh and Nick Fairly, two former first round defensive tackles that left via free agency. Trading for Haloti Ngata helped to fill the void, but the defense is markedly worse off as a result. Reggie Bush also left in the offseason, leaving Joique Bell as their only running back of note. With this being yet another national game, expect plenty of highlights from the memorable last time these two teams met – the snow bowl.
Week 13: 12/6 New England Patriots, 425pm, FOX
-It doesn’t take much to get excited to play the Patriots. Add in the fact that they are the defending Super Bowl Champions and that they may be closing in on yet another division title by this point in the season, the Birds will be hard pressed to steal a win in Foxboro. However, this is Chip Kelly’s chance to show off to his mentor Bill Belichick. Expect a high energy, fast-paced game from two teams that know each other very well after having joint practices in each of the past two training camps. At least the Eagles get some extra rest.
Week 14: 12/13 Buffalo Bills, 1pm, CBS
-Guess who’s back…Shady’s back…if you don’t like Eminem, I recommend you don’t turn on Philly sports radio (or ESPN for that matter) during the second week of December. In his triumphant return, the Eagles all-time leading rusher LeSean McCoy will attempt to wreak havoc on the team…and coach…that shipped him off to Buffalo this offseason. Over the past two years, we’ve seen what Shady can do behind a dominant offensive line (2013) and behind a constantly rotating offensive line (2014). Buffalo has a third type – nonexistent. In what might be a sign from the football gods, expect to see Kiko Alonso tackling Shady in the backfield during this tilt and ruining his return.
Week 15: 12/20 Arizona Cardinals, 1pm, FOX
-It wouldn’t be a proper schedule if the Eagles and Cardinals didn’t play! These two have met every season since 2011 with wildly varied results. The Cards are a solid team that unfortunately fell apart due to injury down the stretch and couldn’t succeed in the playoffs on the arm of Ryan Lindley. With a healthy Carson Palmer, who is quietly getting up there at 35 years of age, this offense can truly hum as the Eagles found out last year in a heartbreaking and ultimately season-altering loss in the desert. Last year’s meeting was certainly in the front of the front office’s minds in free agency as their secondary got torched by Larry Fitzgerald (what’s new?) and John Brown (he’s new!). Look for yet another barn burner the weekend before Christmas.
Week 16: 12/20 Washington Redskins, 430, NFL Network
-In a mirror of last season, the Redskins will visit the Eagles on a Saturday night this time in Week 16. Washington will likely be out of any playoff contention this point, so the Eagles would be wise to catch them sleeping. That didn’t stop them from getting upset at the absolute most inopportune time last season, however. In what will hopefully be less notable every year, this marks the second time DeSean Jackson will come back to Philly. After this past off-season, losing DeSean two years ago doesn’t seem all that damning.
Week 17: 1/3 @ New York Giants, 1pm, FOX
-The regular season will stretch into January this year as the Birds finish their season in New York facing the Giants for the second consecutive season. Will they be playing for the division title and home field advantage throughout the playoffs? Will they be playing for the first overall pick? Will this FINALLY be Tom Coughlin’s final game in Gotham? Only time will tell.
So there you have it! A down and dirty quick glance at each matchup in the 2015 Eagles schedule. All in all, the Eagles definitively have six primetime, nationally televised games, along with two Sunday afternoon games against Dallas and New England that will likely be national as well. Added together, Chip Kelly’s newly composed Eagles will be on national display eight times in 2015! For all our sakes, let’s hope they aren’t a complete disaster or that number could shrink significantly.
Leave your questions and comments below and thanks for reading!
