Five Thoughts Coming out of Bye Week

A quick glimpse at Eagles-Washington on Sunday, a WR who could possibly help, a former CB who is helping Green Bay, Snith vs. Parsons, and some Giants stuff

As the schedule reduces, so does the margin for error.

For the Eagles and Washington, that couldn’t be any truer.

The two teams will play Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field then turn around and play each other again two weeks later, at FedEx Field, on the second day of the new year.

Washington began the season 2-6 but had its four-game winning streak snuffed by the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday.

Now, the Football Team has the same 6-7 record as the Eagles, who began their season at 2-5 before reeling off four wins in their last six games. Also sitting at 6-7 are three other teams – the Vikings, Falcons, and Saints.

The Eagles probably need to go 3-1 over the final four to get to 9-8 and hope that’s good enough to make the expanded playoff field.

In addition to two against the Eagles, Washington still has to go to Dallas and New York. That’s three road games in their final four, compared to three home games for Philadelphia.

MORE: Looking Back at the Season so Far, as Eagles Take Sunday off

The WFT’s loss to the Cowboys may prove costly for one of its top playmakers, WR Terry McLaurin, who suffered a concussion.

Washington QB Taylor Heinicke was just brutal enough against Dallas that he found himself on the bench in the fourth quarter, replaced by Kyle Allen.

So, maybe there’s a quarterback debate in the D.C. area this week about who starts on Sunday.

Also, running back Antonio Gibson may be one of the top 10 ground-gainers in the NFL, but he also has a fumbling problem. He coughed up his sixth of the season on Sunday, which leads the league.

SMITH VS. PARSONS

My timeline was filled with DeVonta Smith-Micah Parsons comparisons.

Dallas was getting the Penn State LB one way or another. They could have stayed at No. 10 and taken him but dealt that pick to the Eagles and moved back two spots and took Parsons there.

The Eagles took Smith at 10.

Parsons is trending toward becoming not only the rookie of the year but also the defensive player of the year, a double-double pulled off only once in league history and that was when Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor took home both honors in 1981. He also has the Cowboys thinking Super Bowl.

Smith, meanwhile, looks like a true No. 1 WR, though his production has been down in recent weeks. With 701 yards receiving, he needs 212 yards to break the team record for receiving yards set by DeSean Jackson in 2008 and 299 more to become the first 1,000-yard WR for the Eagles since Jeremy Maclin in 2014.

There were some red flags on Smith, but none that shouldn’t have scared off the Eagles.

You could say that they didn’t have any interest because he was a linebacker and didn’t know he would be putting up the kind of sack totals he is. Parsons has 12, which leaves him close to breaking the rookie record for sacks of 14.5 set by Jevon Kearse.

You could also say that maybe had the Eagles gotten it right a year earlier and taken Justin Jefferson instead of Jalen Reagor they wouldn’t have felt the urgency to add another pass-catcher, but that doesn’t mean they still would have tried to get Parsons

All of that would probably be correct, but let’s not pretend that Smith was a bad pick for this team at this moment with their LB philosophy of investing limited resources at that spot.

SUUUL

How about Rasul Douglas? The former third-round draft pick of the Eagles, now on his sixth team in five years, recorded his second straight game with a pick-six. It came in a big moment, too, with the Packers trailing the Bears 10-7 late in the second quarter.

Rasul Douglas celebrates his second straight game with a pick-six / USA Today

SHEEED

OK, nobody referred to Rasheed Bailey that way, but the Roxborough High and Delaware Valley University standout is standing out in Canada.

Bailey had a solid training camp in 2015, Chip Kelly’s final season in town. Bailey had 10 catches for 100 yards and a TD in the preseason but was one of the final cuts on the way to the final 53 players.

He was back in 2017 but again was the odd man out after the Eagles had added Alshon Jeffery and Torrey Smith in free agency.

He eventually ended up in the Canadian Football League with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 2019. He had 19 catches for 206 yards and helped the Blue Bombers win the Grey Cup that season.

Bailey was back again this past season, and he did it again, helping lift Winnipeg to another Grey Cup title on Sunday night with three catches for 60 yards and a two-point conversion catch in OT. He ended the regular season with 52 receptions for 628 yards, both totals landing him in the top 14 in the league, with five TDs.

He’ll turn 29 right around the opening of next summer’s training camp.

Perhaps the 6-1, 210-pounder should warrant a look from the Eagles. Look what Alex Singleton has become for them after experiencing success in the CFL, though Singleton carved out a nice NFL niche at a younger age.

Still, something perhaps worth considering for Howie Roseman.

GIANTS

QB Daniel Jones is scheduled to see a neck specialist to get more clarification on an injury he suffered in somehow, someway, beating the Eagles with only one touchdown and two field goals two weeks ago.

Mike Glennon is doing his best to keep things afloat, but he was just 17 for 36 with 191 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception in Sunday’s loss to the Chargers, who scored 37 with Justin Herbert tossing three touchdown passes.

Sounds more like a defensive issue for New York, one Jalen Hurts and company could not solve in scoring just seven points in a loss that could ultimately prove damaging to their playoff hopes.

They'll get another crack at ding it when the Giants visit the day after Christmas.

MORE: Scoreboard Watching Takes Center Stage During Eagles' Bye Week

Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Eagle Maven and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglemaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.