The NFL Schedule Release Is Coming Up; Here’s What We Already Know
The release of the 2022 NFL Regular Season Schedule is only a week away, and Eagles fans are waiting with baited breath to find out when and where the birds will take on their 11 opponents this year. While we don’t know the weeks yet, we do know who Philly will be taking on, and whether or not those games will be played at Lincoln Financial Field or on the road. I can’t make the schedule release come any earlier, but let’s at least review what we already know about the path to the 2022 Eagles’ season.
The NFL has been nice enough to already divide up the birds’ opponents into two categories: who the Eagles will face at home, in Philly, and who the Eagles will face on the road. Because of the unbalanced schedule with the added 17th game of the regular season that debuted last year, half of the NFL will get an extra home game and half will have an extra away game every year. Last year, the Eagles were on the road for 9 games and home for 8, so they will be the beneficiaries of an extra home contest this year. Here are the 9 times they will play at the Linc in 2022-23: Green Bay, Minnesota, Jacksonville, Tennessee, Pittsburgh, New Orleans, Dallas, Washington, New York. There are certainly some interesting story lines within those opponents. Minnesota comes to Philly for only the 2nd time since the memorable 2018 NFC Championship Game matchup (38-7 birds, in case you forgot). Jacksonville’s visit brings the return of Doug Pederson! Tennessee gets to come say hello to AJ Brown at his new home. Pittsburgh brings in Kenny Pickett, the highest drafted QB from this draft. New Orleans comes in, with a loss directly helping the Eagles’ 1st round draft pick they got from them this offseason. A lot of juicy games will take place at the Linc this year, and that’s not even counting the divisional appearances and the return of a certain red-headed QB.
The Eagles will also have to go one the road, though. Their away games for 2022, while less interesting in the story line department, are much more favorable for the birds. Here are the 8 teams they take on away from home: Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, Houston, Arizona, Dallas, Washington, New York. Chicago is still working out their QB situation, Detroit is doing the same. Indy is trying to squeeze some extra juice out of Matt Ryan with Carson Wentz in Washington. Houston traded Deshaun Watson and is going with Davis Mills. We know the QB situation in division isn’t ideal, possibly even for Dallas. There are a bunch of opportunities on the road for the birds, which normally means a successful season. It makes sense logically that having an easy road schedule is preferable to having an easy home schedule. That’s exactly how the Eagles schedule breaks out this year, despite being an overall challenging campaign. The only other thing that needs to be figured out is the timing of the Eagles’ bye week. The perfect timing for a bye is as close to the middle of the schedule as possible, with later better than earlier. In a 17 game schedule, we should be hoping for a bye in the weeks 8-11 range. Hopefully luck will break the birds’ way on that one. However it breaks out, though, the Eagles are certainly in for an entertaining 2022 season!
