The 2022 Eagles Are Ahead Of the 2017 Eagles’ Pace
We’re heading in to Week 13 of the NFL Season, and the Philadelphia Eagles are rolling in with a 10-1 record, the best in the NFC and in all of football for that matter. It’s a great position to be in, and when you consider it historically, it looks even better. Since this offseason started heating up with big time additions by Howie Roseman, the 2022 Eagles have been drawing comparisons to the Super Bowl team from 5 seasons ago. Rightfully so; there have been striking similarities between the 2 teams and their paths towards greatness, both on and off the field of play. As of the Eagles’ win over the Packers on Sunday night, though, they are officially ahead of pace of their 2017 counterparts. That can either excite you, or lead to a little bit of fear for the remaining weeks of the regular season.
Now, the 2022 and 2017 Eagles are not cosmically bound or anything. It is not a guarantee that these teams’ seasons are going to finish similarly at all, no matter how much we hope they do. Still, it can’t help but feel eerily similar to this point. The 2017 Eagles headed into Week 12 of their season with a cool 9-1 record, but fell on the road to the Seattle Seahawks to drop to 9-2. It was a 24-10 loss, a blip on the radar of a season that ended with a Lombardi Trophy. The current Eagles soared through their Week 12 against Green Bay though, and now hold a 10-1 record as they prepare for Week 13 against Tennessee. But, there have been changes to the regular season since 2017, with today’s NFL playing 17 regular season games rather than the 16 contests back in’17. Does that mean that the Eagles are now due to lose in week 13 vs. the Titans because of the connection to the 2017 team? No, but it gives us perspective on what a loss might mean.
For the record, I don’t think the Eagles lose to the Titans on Sunday, and there’s an argument to be made that this team is more talented than that Super Bowl winning squad. That being said, though, the birds are certainly looking at potential for another misstep or two along the way in the regular season. So, what would a loss (or a couple losses) in the next 6 games mean for the Philadelphia Eagles’ chances to win it all? Well, depending on who the losses are to, of course, you could argue that they don’t mean anything. At the time of the loss to the Seahawks in 2017, I can remember being very upset with a lackluster performance by a team that I thought could finally be the one (they were), and now, I caution everyone to not have that same reaction this season. If indeed another loss or two are coming, don’t worry. As long as the top seed and the division belong to the Eagles, their regular season goals have been accomplished. They’re not cosmically bound to the 2017 team… but wouldn’t it be cool if they ended up looking like they were?
