Scoreboard Watching Takes Center Stage During Eagles' Bye Week
PHILADELPHIA - The Eagles aren't playing this weekend but there is still plenty to be interested in around the NFL when it comes to the playoff race and what it means for Nick Sirianni's team.
Things began on a bit of a down note for Philadelphia when Minnesota avoided the worst regular-season collapse in NFL history by holding off Ben Roethlisberger and Pittsburgh late on Thursday night.
By winning, the 6-7 Vikings vaulted the Eagles, also 6-7, for now, moving to the No. 8 position in the NFC, one-half game behind the two final seeds in the conference, Washington and San Francisco, who are both 6-6.
The WFT hosts NFC East-leading Dallas this weekend while the 49ers visit AFC playoff-hopeful Cincinnati.
Minnesota has the slight edge over the Eagles based on the common opponent tiebreaker but fivethirtyeight.com, the famed political prognosticating site, lists both teams' chances to make the postseason at 35 percent right now.
That's where the scoreboard watching comes in.
If both the Niners and WFT lose this Sunday, the Eagles' chances will improve to 42 percent without moving from the couch. If both teams win, however, that number tumbles to 29 percent.
San Francisco is sitting pretty compared to both the Eagles and the Vikings because Kyle Shanahan's team holds head-to-head wins against both, meaning the 49ers' half-game lead on paper is really 1.5.
That also makes the WFT the more likely path to the postseason and the Eagles also play Ron Rivera's club in a home-and-home series over the final month. A sweep by Philadelphia would bode very well in tiebreakers against the Vikings as well as essentially crippling the WFT.
Three teams directly behind the Eagles are all 5-7 NFC South teams that Philadelphia has beaten: Carolina, Atlanta, and New Orleans.
The Falcons visit the Panthers on Sunday and the Saints take on the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium.
In the end, any scoreboard watching this week - good or bad - ultimately needs to take a backseat to performance on the field when the Eagles do get back to work in Week 15 by hosting Washington at Lincoln Financial Field, a game that will kick off the season-ending stretch of four NFC East games.
Perfection during the final run would virtually guarantee the postseason for the Eagles no matter what goes on elsewhere.
-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on both PhillyVoice.com and YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Extending the Play" on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
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.
