What The Win Means For the Eagles


Photo courtesy of USA Today)

(Photo courtesy of USA Today)

The Eagles opened the most critical stretch of the season in fine fashion, pulling off an impressive 33-10 road win over the Cowboys on Thanksgiving. Here’s what it means in respect to the playoff picture:

— The Eagles (9-3) now have a leg up in the division over the Cowboys (8-4). The first tiebreaker is head-to-head (there’s no way the Eagles can lose that now) followed by division record. Philly improved to 3-0 in the NFC East while Dallas dropped to 2-2. These two teams square off again on December 14 at the Linc and the Eagles have three division games left in all.

The Eagles’ remaining schedule looks like this: Seattle, Dallas, at Washington and at the Giants. The Cowboys are at Chicago, at Philadelphia, home to the Colts and then at Washington.

Still a ways to go, but the Eagles are in good position when it comes to the NFC East.

— It’s a competitive scene outside the division. Arizona (9-2) sits atop the NFC West ahead of Seattle (8-4) and San Francisco (7-5). These three teams could very well beat up on each other down the stretch. Green Bay (8-3) and Detroit (8-4) are fighting it out in the North. They’ll play one another in Lambeau to close out the regular season.

With only two Wild Card slots available and one team from the wretched NFC South guaranteed a postseason berth, there will be a good team or two on the outside looking in. The Eagles would lose tiebreakers to Arizona, Green Bay and San Francisco – the three teams that have beaten them this season. The outcome of Eagles-Seahawks will determine the tiebreaker between those two clubs. Given that the they do not hold the head-to-head advantage against several of the teams in contention, the stakes are that much higher for the Eagles to claim the division. They took a big step closer towards that goal on Thursday.