Must Win?

While I agree that tonight’s Eagles game is a big one, I’m not so sure, as Ashley Fox asserts, that “this one will determine a season. This one will decide success or failure.” Whoa. Easy.

 

Starting off 0-2 would be bad, don’t get me wrong. And yes, the Eagles’ started off 0-2 in 2003 and still got to the NFC Championship, but this team, this division, and this conference are vastly different than four years ago. But I don’t think the fate of the season rides on tonight’s game. I think it will certainly have playoff implications down the road were they to start 0-2, especially two losses to conference opponents and one in division. Of course, the Eagles wouldn’t have the pressure on them that they do if they hadn’t squandered the victory in Green Bay.

 

And as I wrote earlier this week, 0-2 would put them 2 games back two games into the season (!) to division rivals Dallas and 2 ½ games back of Washington, As concerned I would be about 0-2, I would also worry about the momentum the Redskins pick up from a win and the possibility of going 3-0 vs. the hapless Giants next week.

 

Still, if we’ve learned anything in recent years, particularly last season, is that the NFL season is an incredibly long journey filled with more twists and turns and developments and subplots than All My Children. 0-2 would be bad, but not the end of the world.