No More Chain Gangs? NFL Might Finally Enter 21st Century

For far too long, the NFL has stubbornly refused to join us in this century when it comes to their continued use of chain gangs. Despite having access to much better technology, they still measured first downs with a group of people holding two poles with a 10-yard chain.

So any time there is a close play, they needed to drag the chains onto the field to measure the distance as if it was still 1984. It does sometimes make for great drama, as they drag the chain over and everyone holds their breath. Then there is a small gap, the ref does the hand gesture to show there are a few inches between the ball and the pole, and the defense goes wild.

But is that little bit of theater worth measuring 1sts downs in such an archaic and inefficient way?

Thankfully, chain gangs may soon be a thing of the past. The NFL is experimenting with "Hawkeye" technology during some preseason games that will be able to measure if the ball passed the line of scrimmage. If that process is smooth, we could eventually see it in games.

It is not new technology. Other sports have had similar tech for years now. Soccer has it to help them tell if a play was offside. Tennis uses the exact same Hawk-Eye technology to measure if a ball is out. As does cricket, badminton, and volleyball. The NFL has had access to this for years. They were just slow to catch up.

No, instead they kept using the new technology known as index cards. Yes, in case you forget, the NFL once actually used an index card to see if there was any space between the ball and the chain. That was not something that happened in the 80s, it happened in 2017 in a game between the Cowboys and Raiders.

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The NFL uses tech in other ways. They use GPS tracking to measure how fast players were on any given play. They already have chips in the ball to help spot the ball and to measure if it crossed the goal line. But for whatever reason, until now, they have refused to even consider ditching the chain gangs and go with something far easier, and far more accurate.

The way it works is officials can just place the ball, and the Hawk-Eye tech can instantly determine if it was far enough for a 1st down or not. No more lugging out the chains, and no more games being delayed because someone wrapped the chains too tightly and they can't untangle them.

That is also a thing that happened. In the playoff game between the Eagles and Giants a couple of years ago, the first set of chains malfunctioned, and the backup set was wrapped so tightly that the game had to be delayed.

For now, it is only a trial. They will use it in a few pre-season games, and we will see how it goes. We likely won't see it in games until the 2025 season at the earliest, and even then it may at first be used in addition to chain gangs.

We aren't done with them yet, but we are inching closer. Soon the NFL may actually act like we are in the year 2024, and not 1984.

The Eagles schedule is out. From week 1 to week 18, we know who, when, and where they will be playing. it could still change a bit if the NFL flexes games., but for the most part, we know the details about all 17 of their games.

In the past, the schedule makers have not been too kind to them. That took the form of a crazy gauntlet last season where they played the Cowboys twice, the Bills, the Dolphins, the Chiefs, the 49ers, and the Seahawks. Luckily they avoided that this year.

But tough stretches were not the only ways they inconvenienced the Eagles. There were rough road trips, difficult travel, and huge rest disadvantages, just to name a few things. Did they manage to avoid that this season?

Is this Schedule easier than last year? Did they get an advantage when it comes to rest for the first time in years? How much do they have to travel this season?

The Eagles face 0 teams coming off their bye week this season. That is huge. They had a few last year, and had their own bye week nullified by playing the Chiefs coming off the bye. They still won that game, but it robbed them of an advantage most other teams get.

The Eagles will get to sleep in their own beds for the last 6 weeks of the season. There are no road trips after the week 12 game in LA where they leave the East Coast. The furthest they travel is to Washington DC. A short bus ride away.

Being able to avoid plane trips, or time zone changes for the last month and change of the season is a big deal.

In that same vain, 4 of their last 5 games are at home. The downside to that is they travel a lot in the first 3 months of the season. But it pays off when at the end of the year, where they are the most tired, they hardly travel at all. Agan, the one trip they do make, is to DC. 

We talked about some good things with the Eagles Schedule, time to get negative. The Last 14 Super Bowl Winners had their bye week week 7 or later. 9 of the last 14 had it week 10 or later. The Eagles get theirs week 5.

It is not an ideal time to have it. You don’t need the rest as much after 4 weeks. You do want it after 8 or 9 games though. O not only does their bye week come when they don’t need it, but they will now play 13 straight weeks to close out the season. Not ideal.

The Eagles will travel 22,576 miles this season. The Brazil trip, which is nearly 10,000 miles round trip, does a lot of the heavy lifting there. But they also fly cross country to Los Angeles.

Take those out, and they only have about 8000 miles the rest of the season. Thats two rough road trips, but the other 15 games are much easier travel wise. And for the Brazil trip, the Packers travel is just as difficult, so it evens out.

Case in in point, the Eagles change Time Zones 12 times all season. That includes only 4 road trips total where they leave the Eastern Tim Zone. Brazil, New Orleans, Cincy, and LA. They stay on the East Coast in the other 13 games. And every time they do leave the east Coast, it is only for 1 game. So no long road trips out in the West this season.

Only the Chiefs change time Zones fewer times than the Eagles do this season. Per Sharp Football Analysis.

Going off of last year’s win totals is an imperfect method of determining strength of schedule. Teams have changed too much to judge off of last season. Going off off win projections isn’t perfect either, but it is likely more accurate than 2023 records.

11 of the Eagles' 17 opponents have a win total of 8.5 or lower. Only 6 teams, The Packers, Bengals, Ravens, Falcons, and the Cowboys twice, have a win projection that would see them finish over .500.

The Browns, Jags, and Rams over-under is set at 8.5. Their other 8 opponents, are 7.5 or lower.

The last couple of seasons, the Eagles were the victims of a weird schedule quirk. Balancing rest advantage vs rest disadvantage is hard for the NFL to do. Often, teams end up getting screwed over. The Eagles were once of those teams the past two seasons, where they had several games with major rest disadvantages.

This season, pending any games being flexed, they have +279 extra hours of rest vs their opponents.

On the topic of rest advantage, they only have 1 game where they have a rest disadvantage of more than a day. Meanwhile there are 4 games where they have a rest advantage of more than a day. Not playing any teams off the bye helps that. But they also have only 1 Monday Night Game, and they don’t play any teams coming off of a Thursday Night game.